ZIMBABWEAN cricket stakeholders are keeping their fingers
crossed that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will lift the country’s
suspension, with an announcement to be made tomorrow.
All is pointing to the ICC lifting Zimbabwe’s suspension,
which will come as a huge sigh of relief to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) employees who
have gone for months without getting their salaries. The ICC board, the highest
decision makers at the world cricket governing is meeting in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates with the gathering to come to an end tomorrow. It is then that a
decision on the suspension of Zimbabwe Cricket will be made. An ICC
spokesperson confirmed that Zimbabwe was on the agenda of the board meeting
with a pronouncement to be made tomorrow.
“Zimbabwe’s suspension is on the agenda of the ICC board
meeting, the communication on the outcome will be made on Monday post board
meeting,” the spokesperson said.
It has been a difficult time for ZC employees, including
players who have gone for four months without salaries since ICC suspended
funding in June. The ICC board suspended Zimbabwe’s membership in July after
they deemed that the action taken by the Sports and Recreation Commission amounted
to Government interference in the running of the sport. In June, the SRC
suspended the Tavengwa Mukuhlani-led ZC board after the latter went ahead with
their elective annual general meeting in Victoria Falls against the advice of
the country’s supreme sports governing body not to do so.
In suspending ZC, the ICC put in place conditions that had
to be met for Zimbabwe to again enjoy the full benefits of being part the
global cricketing family. One of the stipulations was that the SRC must
reinstate the ZC board unconditionally and that proof must be provided that
there shall be no interference in the operations of the cricket mother body.
The SRC then lifted the ZC board suspension in August, which should pave way
for Zimbabwe to be readmitted as a Full ICC Member, a status they have enjoyed
since 1992.
Zimbabwe’s suspension has hit ZC where it hurts the most,
that is in the pocket. With ZC heavily reliant on money from ICC as part of
controlled funding agreement, their operations have been crippled by the
withholding of that financial support. The domestic first class season is yet
to get underway as ZC cannot afford to run it minus the money coming from the
ICC. Sunday Mail
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