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Zimbabwe cricket in turmoil

Monday, April 12 2004

The crisis in Zimbabwean cricket is now more deep than ever before, as a senior official of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) announced yesterday that he has sacked as many as a dozen white players.

This move comes after senior players of the team issued an ultimatum to the board, to meet their demands by Wednesday, or face a mass resignation.

The ultimatum was issued in a climatic meeting between senior players (Heath Streak, Andy Blignaut and Grant Flower) and the chairman of the ZCU, Peter Chingoka and chief executive Vince Hogg. The meeting had been arranged to discuss issues that had been aroused as a result of the ZCU's stance of no reinstating Streak as the team captain or meeting with demands related to selection of the team.

The senior players (named above) understood from the meeting that they along with others had been given permission by Hogg to miss this weekend's matches, so as to sit out and find a solution to the problem faced by Zimbabwean cricket. However, Ozias Bvute, the ZCU board member in charge of racial quotas, announced yesterday that all the players who couldn't turn up for their respective matches, have been dismissed.

This blow also comes as a terrible one to Hogg, who has been the only person on ZCU's side, who has supported the players, if not totally agreeing with their demands.

Meanwhile, Streak is considering legal action against the ZCU for wrongful claims of his resignation. Though, Streak is not permitted to speak out to the press because of his contract clauses, his father made a public statement that Streak had not resigned as the captain, but had rather been sacked. During his meeting with the ZCU officials regarding fulfilling his demands, all Streak had said was that he may consider retirement if his demands were not made. He hadn't officially resigned during the meeting.

Zimbabwe's Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka is due to start in less than a fortnight, wfor hich as per the things at the moment, Zimbabwe will have to field an under par side.

Posted by Sudeep