With West Indies cricket recently threatened by the possibility of another "whitewash" and even more recently by frequent "washouts", the West Indian fan can be excused for feeling somewhat downhearted by the way things have been going of late, but if we were to look at what has been happening during the past couple of weeks in Zimbabwean cricket, then perhaps we might just consider ourselves to be not too badly off after all - and at least we did have the benefit of Brian Lara's timely 400mg shot in the arm just as we were all about to descend into a cricketing coma.
In strife-torn Zimbabwe, however, cricketing problems recently reached a haiatus when fifteen of its international squad withdrew themselves from availability for selection after complaints concerning the unacceptable methods of operation by the Board of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and the subsequent firing of captain, Heath Streak.

Problems have evidently become so convoluted of late between Board and players and also, seemingly, more recently within the players ranks themselves that it is hard to pinpoint exactly where all the trouble began. Perhaps for that we should refer to an interview given by one of the Zimbabwe "rebel" players, who obviously needs to remain anonymous as he spoke with Wisden Cricinfo.

He said that a number of the players had not been happy with the way things were going in Zimbabwe cricket and with the way the ZCU Board were running the game, especially the increasing politicisation, and that captain Heath Streak had put the players principles to the Board, saying that he would consider retiring or resigning if they were not met. The Board then sacked Streak and the players came out in support of him.
Amidst calls of breach of contract from both sides, things went from bad to worse. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that all the "rebel" players were white and racial overtones were exaggerated or emphasised by the Zimbabwean media.
Because of this situation and the ZCU's commitment to play a One Day Series in Zimbabwe against the visiting Sri Lankans, all the "rebel" players were omitted from a team selection of raw youngsters which was placed under the captaincy of the admirable young wicket keeper, 20 year old, Tatenda Taibu. The inexperienced youngsters, no better than a poor club selection, were duly mauled by the Sri Lankans, who were themselves not at full strength (no Muralitheran), and now find themselves 0-4 down in the series, and having had the ignominy, just a few days ago, of being bowled out for a total of 35, which was the lowest score ever in one day internationals, Mr."Extras" being the highest scorer with 7.

The press has described the situation as farcical and an insult to the institutions of international cricket. Despite an optimistic statement issued by the ZCU on 26th April, the 15 "rebels" still had to decide their course of action and it now appears that the players themselves are didvided about the next steps to take. In the statement, the ZCU assured independent mediation provided the players made themselves available immediately for selection. It added that Heath Streak had been informed of the proposal and that a positive response from the players would be met by mediation. There was, it concluded, "every hope of a speedy and amicable resolution of the problem".

However, Streak, who is currently taking a break with his family, was sceptical about a resolution."This is a proposal given to me as an individual, and I still have to meet with the players in Harare to pass this on", he told The Daily Telegraph. "Its then up to them to think it over and make a decision. There is so much distrust of the ZCU that their promises will not be believed by the players", he added. He did say that the captaincy was not an issue and he would tell the plyers that he was prepared to play under Tatenda Taibu, if their grievances were sorted out. He also cautioned, however, that some of the players might not want to play unless he captained the side, but added, "..that is not the issue. The issue is the grievances. When those issues are sorted out, then the rest will fall into place".

On April 28th the ZCU announced that the players would be returning to training on April 30th, and that they were back in consideration for selection. Evidently, a prominent businessman, Much Musunda, has been appointed as a mediator and that he was the choice of both the Union and Heath Streak, but so far there have been no talks between any of the "rebels' and the Board and none will take place until the banned players have met with their lawyers. Musunda, however, is not even in the country at the moment and one forsees that there could yet be many stumbling blocks.

Perhaps the players agreement, at least, to start training again is an act of good faith and in the hope that the mess will be sorted out sooner rather than later. It should be noted that Zimbabwe is shortly scheduled to play against Australia. If they are still fielding the "club side" then the Aussie batsmen, who do not have the reputation for being sympathetic towards inferior opposition, will be licking their lips at the thoughts of challenging Lara's record 400 runs!

David Kenworthy

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