THE President of the International Cricket Council has altered his stance on Zimbabwe Cricket after it became clear that he was going to face stiff resistance in securing a ban of the country from international cricket.
Ray Mali, the ICC president, told Cricinfo on Tuesday that the Zimbabwe issue was not about politics in the country or their ICC membership but concerns the development of cricket there.
This marks a major shift from his earlier position.
Mali, last week, placed the Zimbabwe issue at the top of the agenda for today's (Wednesday) ICC board meeting, pointing to the "worsening situation within the country".
"It's not a political issue, it's a cricket issue. We are not the ones to debate on politics. It's not about Zimbabwe's membership in the ICC, either. Not at all. What we are concerned about is how to strengthen the game in Zimbabwe, how to encourage more cricketing interaction with them at any level."
Critics say Mali wants to leave a good legacy at the ICC as he is due to hand over presidency to David Morgan.
The Zimbabwe issue threatened to divide the ICC as Asian countries including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan indicated that politics should not affect the game.
The very influential Indian board has consistently backed Zimbabwe Cricket in the past.
On Wednesday it made it clear it would stand against any move to revoke Zimbabwe's status as a Full Member of the ICC.
“On Tuesday afternoon, the scene at The Westin Hotel told its own story - near the giant glass doors of the sparkling new building, Mali was laughing and shaking hands with Peter Chingoka, the ZC president, and two associates. The two, old comrades, shared a joke on the international media frenzy surrounding the game in that country and walked away together,” wrote Cricinfo.
South African Cricket has cancelled all bilateral contacts with ZC and Britain has pushed for the revocation of membership rights and called for non-participation of the country at next year's World Twenty20 games.
Zimbabwe lost Test status but are due to play in the ICC Champions Trophy in September and at the Twenty20 event.
The ICC board decided a year ago that “politics and sport should not mix,” but President-elect Morgan, former president of the England and Wales Cricket Board is spearheading a campaign to take a hard look at Zimbabwe.
With ICC being split into two over the Zimbabwe issue, the leaders decided to have the matter discussed possibly as the last item at the ongoing ICC meeting in Dubai, so that any fall-outs from the debate will not affect the other executive meeting discussions
during the two scheduled days.
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Henry Caines • h_hcanes@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Way Forward Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:42:02 • Maybe Zim should send more young cricketeers to India and Pakistan to offset the lose frm playing in the South Africa league. I'm sure India has enough academies to absorb our young players. This will boost skill levels even if they were to re-establish links with South Africa and England.
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