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ICC agrees to suspend Zimbabwe Tests

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has agreed with the International Cricket Council that it will stop playing Test matches until the end of the year

10-Jun-2004


Ehsan Mani: cited the depth of concern in the cricketing community over the current Zimbabwe situation © Getty Images
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has agreed with the International Cricket Council that it will stop playing Test matches until the end of the year.
The announcement follows a meeting between ZCU officials and representatives of the ICC in Dubai earlier today. Besides Ehsan Mani, the ICC's chairman, the others who met with the ZCU were India's Jagmohan Dalmiya, Bob Merriman of Australia, and South Africa's Ray Mali.
Zimbabwe only had four Tests scheduled in the remainder of 2004 anyway, two in Pakistan in October and two at home to England in November. Zimbabwe will still be able to play one-day internationals.
The wording of the statement implied that the decision to suspend matches came from the ZCU. But their recent utterances suggest that it wouldn't have agreed to such a move unless it had been placed under some pressure to do so.
Nevertheless, Mani said afterwards: "Today's meeting demonstrates the depth of concern in the international cricket community over the impact the dispute in Zimbabwe is having on the game." He continued: "The package of measures strikes a balance in protecting the sport in Zimbabwe while ensuring that the issues that arise from the dispute, including the importance of the players to the ZCU and the integrity of the game, are transparently addressed."
This means that the full ICC meeting in London later this month will be a less-fraught affair, but there will still be issues to discuss. Details of today's meeting also revealed that the officials present from both Zimbabwe and the ICC will recommend further measures at the gathering in London. They included that both the India and South Africa A sides should tour Zimbabwe during July and August, and that India, South Africa and Australia should coach promising Zimbabwean players in their national training schemes.
Regarding the national team itself, both parties suggested that Zimbabwe should return to their full Test programme in January, when they are due to play Bangladesh, and that they fulfil both their scheduled one-day series against England and Pakistan this year, as well as take part in the ICC Champions Trophy in England this September.
They also discussed the allegations of racism made by the ZCU and the players against each other, with the outcome that the Zimbabwe board has been asked to make a presentation at the meeting on the issue, after fully investigating the claims made by the players.