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Rebels to go to court

Tuesday, May 11 2004

The fifteen rebel players, whose contracts have been terminated by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), will go to court to contest against the board's claim that they are in 'breach of contract'.

The players' legal representative Chris Venturas said, "We are taking them (ZCU) to court over this. We were just finalising out letter to the ZCU agreeing a mediation on the dispute when they dropped this bombshell on us. We decided right away we would go the distance and an advocate will be briefed as soon as possible."

Venturas added, "We knew about the ultimatum to return to duties by May 7 but this was a shock in view of out impending written acceptance of mediation, which we were going to deliver on Tuesday morning and which they knew was going to happen."

Earlier, the ZCU fired all the fifteen rebel players saying that the action was a result of the players not making themselves available for duties by May 7. The players had pulled out of training sessions and the first Test against Sri Lanka, on the basis, that they wanted arbitration since their demands were not being heard, while the ZCU agreed only to mediation.

However, over the weekend, as a result of meetings with independent arbitrator Much Musunda, the players agreed to go ahead with mediation first, and were preparing a written acceptance of it, to be delivered today, before the ZCU dropped the bombshell.

As a result, a lengthy legal process is on hands, thus ending any hope of a 'peaceful' solution to the crisis. It also means that a second-string Zimbabwean side will field again against Sri Lanka for the second Test, and most likely also against the Aussies, who tour Zimbabwe next.

Posted by Sudeep