ZCU makes first concession
Zimbabwe's besieged cricket authorities have made the first
concession in their attempts to solve the crisis which is tearing the sport
apart.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) changed the make-up of its
selection panel which had been one of the key demands set down by former skipper
Heath Streak who was sacked as national captain.
The new panel is: Peter Mangongo (convenor), Mpumulelo
Mbangwa, Max Ebrahim and Richie Kaschula.
Mr Mangongo and Mr Ebrahim have been retained but Mr
Mbangwa, one of the names suggested by Streak as a replacement, is knowledgeable
and popular among all races, while Mr Kaschula was a noted spin bowler for
Rhodesia in the 1970s.
The alterations to the panel, which were demanded by Streak
and his 12 fellow rebels, are aimed at achieving a breakthrough following almost
two weeks of tension.
The players, who earlier released an open letter in which
they detailed a whole list of grievances and accused some members of the ZCU of
intimidation, were still in talks with their lawyer to decide whether the ZCU
move is enough to make themselves available to face Sri Lanka whose tour starts
on Tuesday.
The white players are facing a tough deadline over whether
or not to accept the new panel, as its first job will come soon when they are
due to select the squad for the Sri Lanka series.
Wednesday's open letter was signed by 13 white players -
Streak, Stuart Carlisle, Grant Flower, Craig Wishart, Andy Blignaut, Raymond
Price, Gary Brent, Sean Irvine, Travis Friend, Barney Rodgers, Trevor Gripper,
Richard Simms and Niel Ferreria.
"We have been concerned for some time about what we
consider to be the unprofessional manner of selection. There has been
interference of a non-sporting nature," the statement said.
"There has, in our view, been racial and ethnic
discrimination in the selection of the national team. We believe that problems
of this kind can be rectified if minimum qualifications for selectors were
introduced, as we have suggested.
"We should also stress that the minimum qualifications
proposed by the players are not discriminatory and indeed it would in our view
be easy for a selection panel to be established with a majority of qualified
black Zimbabweans.
"Names that come to mind would be Ethan Dube and Mpumelelo
Mbangwa (providing he is willing to give up his media commentary) both of whom
are qualified, ex-national players."
The players also angrily denounced "intimidation of players
and a journalist".
"We have been made aware that at least one black journalist
and at least one black player (who has asked us not to reveal his name for his
own safety) have been threatened by a member of the board not to side with
Heath.
"We suspect that other black members of the team have been
phoned and threatened in the same manner.
"Once again, we have been reliably informed that a board
member suggested during a selection meeting that Mark Vermuelen be offered a
double match fee, not to play (in the fourth one-day international against
Bangladesh).
"The suggestion was made to try and pave the way for Stuart
Matsikanyeri, who had been dropped, to play."
The players insist that their criticisms are not
racially-motivated.
"We are all deeply patriotic to all our colleagues and to
Zimbabwean cricket supporters of all races. However, we refuse to bow to this
unacceptable conduct and we trust that reasonable members of the Board and the
ICC will support our stance.
"We are deeply conscious of the effect that non-closure
would have on the game, and believe that unless we take action the cancer that
is eroding the game in Zimbabwe will not be dealt with."
-- AFP
Zimbabwe 13 pull plug and
threaten tour
Telford Vice in Cape Town, Paul Kelso and David Hopps
Friday April
16, 2004
The Guardian
Two years of
smouldering acrimony in Zimbabwean cricket burst into flame yesterday when 13 of
the country's most experienced players refused to play in the imminent series
against Sri Lanka. The resignations have cast a shadow over Zimbabwe's future at
international level, to say nothing of England's proposed tour there this
autumn.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) vowed to take action against any contracted
player who does not turn out for net practice in Harare this morning. That means
13 players, all of them white, who between them hold 262 Test caps will in all
likelihood be lost to cricket. In their place the ZCU has named a squad of 14
players, all but one of them black, and only eight of whom have international
experience, for the first of five one-day internationals in Bulawayo on
Tuesday.
"There's no doubt about it, we're not budging; we will not be at nets," one
of the players, who declined to be named, said yesterday.
The International Cricket Council has neither the right nor the inclination
to intervene in disputes between boards and their players. The most it will do
is volunteer to act in a peacemaking capacity and that offer is likely to be
made early next week when the ZCU's hardline director Ozias Bvute and chairman
Peter Chingoka arrive in London.
Developments are being watched closely at Lord's, where the England and Wales
Cricket Board will next week consider its options over its proposed autumn tour.
Bvute and Chingoka are due at Lord's on Tuesday where they will address the
ECB's management board.
England had looked set to tour but the machinations in Harare will certainly
strengthen the belief that the ZCU is a political body which relies on the
patronage of the president Robert Mugabe's regime. It is already widely held
that Bvute's actions have placed its chief executive Vince Hogg in an impossible
position.
Bute reportedly sacked five players for failing to play in a first-class
fixture last weekend, despite all five having been given permission by Hogg to
miss the game. Much will depend on the ICC's next move. Officially the governing
body cannot interfere in the internal workings of an individual board but there
are concerns that, unless some of the 13 can be tempted back to the side, the
series against Sri Lanka may be so one-sided that the integrity of the game will
be called into question.
Only a groundswell of opinion among cricket's international community could
lead to Zimbabwe's relegation as a full Test nation - and the apparent appetite
for expansion at any cost would make that a last resort.
Zimbabwe's cricket base has never been broader - 60,000 regular players is
the official ICC estimate - but there is little strength in depth and there are
fears that, with players of Minor Counties standard filling eight places in the
team, Tests may be over in two days.
Were that the case, and with Australia due to play a series in Zimbabwe in
May, the ICC might be forced to act for the good of the game, something its
president Ehsan Mani referred to when earlier this week he urged both sides to
reach a resolution.
If England do decide to tour, the ECB is likely to give its contracted
players the chance to pull out. Any charge by the ZCU that they are not bringing
a full-strength team would be undermined were its own side to feature as few as
three Test-class players.
The 13 players yesterday reiterated their demands that Heath Streak be
reinstated to the Zimbabwe captaincy and that the ZCU owns up to incidents of
misconduct the players say have been committed by board members.
These include alleged threats to dig up pitches if more black players are not
included in teams, selected and ratified XIs being vetoed by individual board
members on racial grounds, and a claim that the batsman Mark Vermeulen was
offered twice his match fee to withdraw from a one-day international he had been
selected to play in to allow a black player to take his place.
