Why pick on cricket, asks Zimbabwe chief as ICC meets

Peter Chingoka
Peter Chingoka. Photograph: Anna Branthwaite/AP

World cricket's leaders gathered in Dubai yesterday as Zimbabwe began a staunch defence of their right to continue as a full member of the ICC despite the objections of the British government and several member boards including the England and Wales Cricket Board and South Africa.

As the ECB chairman, Giles Clarke, and chief executive, David Collier, opened informal negotiations with ICC members designed to keep Zimbabwe out of next summer's World Twenty20 tournament, Zimbabwe Cricket's leadership attempted to derail moves to suspend them.

The ICC annual conference is due to debate Zimbabwe's status on Wednesday, after the outgoing ICC president, Ray Mali, insisted the matter be placed on the agenda. Backed by the incoming president, David Morgan, Mali was responding to concerns raised by the ECB and Cricket South Africa, both of which have severed bilateral relations with Zimbabwe.

The ECB last week cancelled a scheduled one-day series with Zimbabwe following advice from the government that the African side would not be admitted to the UK in light of the worsening human rights situation and the sham election that yesterday saw Robert Mugabe sworn in for another term as president.

Zimbabwe are also due to play in the World Twenty20 in June but, as that is an ICC event, the government has stopped short of extending the ban for fear that there could be repercussions for other events, including the 2012 Olympics.

Zimbabwe Cricket is determined to defend itself and yesterday its managing director, Ozias Bvute, said any action by the ICC would be out of step with other world sports. "We are a full member of Fifa and are currently participating in a World Cup qualifying campaign, we have a swimming programme which has produced Kirsty Coventry, a recent winner in the world championships, so it would be strange that the only sport to take action on so-called current worries is cricket."

Bvute and the chairman, Peter Chingoka, are expected to argue this week that Zimbabwe can be excluded from ICC competitions only on cricketing grounds, not for political reasons.

In a letter to Mali copied to member countries on Friday, Chingoka said it is "unfair" for Zimbabwe's status to be placed on the agenda this week without prior discussion. "While we still question whether ZC should have been an agenda item, your [Mali's] concluding that its status as a member of the ICC should be brought into question is to pass judgment without a hearing. That with utmost due respect will be very unfair and regrettable to say the least."

Chingoka has an ally in India, which is due to reject any attempt to banish Zimbabwe on non-cricketing grounds. Yesterday a senior BCCI official said: "It has nothing to do with us - it's for the government to decide whether to take action against Zimbabwe. If they wish us to break off ties with Zimbabwe, then we'll do that but as long as they don't then the status quo remains and we will support Zimbabwe's right to full membership of the ICC."

It is unclear what mechanism could be used to exclude Zimbabwe, and ICC lawyers are thought to be considering the options. One possibility would be to suspend them from ODIs, a move that would exclude them from the World Twenty20.

Zimbabwe voluntarily gave up Test status recently and some officials hope they may be persuaded to withdraw. Were they to do so, they would continue to receive funding as a full ICC member, something they would lose if reduced to associate member status.

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