/ 8 January 2006

Zimbabwe cricketers call off strike

Zimbabwe cricketers called off their strike on Saturday and gave the game’s rulers three weeks to find a solution to the impasse that once again threatens the strife-torn country’s Test status.

Following a meeting with their representative, Clive Field, the 37 players involved agreed to shelve their three-month stoppage until January 31.

That is to give the new interim committee of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), appointed on Friday by the government’s sports and recreation committee (SRC), the opportunity to resolve their long running dispute over pay and conditions.

Field said the first reaction of the players to the government of President Robert Mugabe taking control of cricket administration was to quit the game altogether, find other jobs or take their skills to other countries.

But after discussions he said they decided, for the sake of three weeks, to negotiate back pay, new contracts (which were due last September) and match fees due from home series against New Zealand and India.

”This was because the SRC gave the new ZC interim committee a deadline of January 31 to resolve all those issues. So now it is up to them,” said Field.

”As the players have said many times before, they do actually want to play cricket for Zimbabwe but could not possibly do so in previous circumstances of intransigence.”

The 37 players said in the past that they would not play for the country while chairperson Peter Chingoka remained at the helm.

But Chingoka, appointed interim chairperson by the SRC on Friday, has stayed in power.

At a media briefing on Friday, SRC chairperson General Gibson Mashingaidze insisted the official bodies would not be held to ransom.

”The players could go and play in India or South America. We can then start a new Zimbabwe Test team from scratch,” he said.

Saturday’s developments will be watched eagerly in the Caribbean, where Zimbabwe are due to tour in May for a Test series against the West Indies.

”We welcome the SRC commitment to player welfare,” said Field. ”We stress the importance to Zimbabwe of continuing to play Test cricket and we hope and expect all our problems as the principal stakeholders in cricket here to be sorted out at last.”

Field expects to have meetings with the ZC interim committee next week. — Sapa-AFP