Zimbabwe’s rebel cricketers have agreed to the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) plan for arbitration in their dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The ICC had proposed that a three-man tribunal, sitting in Zimbabwe, resolve the dispute that has plagued Zimbabwe cricket for several months, an offer already accepted by the ZCU.
Most of the rebel players are currently on a charity tour of England and manager Clive Field said: ”We had a meeting yesterday [Tuesday] and we sent an e-mail to ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, who is India, saying we accepted the plan.”
”From the players’ point of view we want this resolved as quickly as possible,” Field added.
”We don’t know when the arbitration will start but we hope the composition of the panel and their terms of reference can be decided quickly.”
The ICC had set the rebels a deadline of 4pm on Wednesday to accept their proposal after the players initially asked a week ago for a further month in which to make up their minds.
Last Wednesday the ZCU agreed to the ICC’s plan for a three-man tribunal, sitting in Zimbabwe, which would aim to end the crisis.
One representative would be appointed by the ZCU and another by the players with both those people choosing the third, the chairperson.
In April the ZCU sacked then Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak after the fast bowler, now at English county Warwickshire, accused the board of making some team selections based on race rather than merit.
When his colleagues tried but failed to get Streak reinstated they went on strike in protest.
That led the ZCU to sack a total of 15 senior players, all white, a massive loss for a country with an already small playing base.
Field was speaking on the telephone from Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, where the Red Lions, as the Zimbabwe rebel side are known, were playing the third match of their six-game tour against a team captained by South Africa-born former England batsman Allan Lamb.
The tour is designed to raise money for the Zimbabwean Cricketers Fund and the Zimbabwe Pensioners Fund.
The ICC, at its last board meeting in June, suspended Zimbabwe’s Tests for the rest of the year (against Pakistan and England) following heavy defeats by Sri Lanka and an already abandoned series against Australia.
However, their one-day internationals remained intact and England are due to play five such games in Zimbabwe in November.
Zimbabwe’s second-string side are due to face India A in a four-day match in Harare starting Thursday.
They are due to resume Tests in Bangladesh during January, following intensive coaching and two incoming ”A” tours by India and South Africa, after which their status will be reviewed. — Sapa-AFP