Zimbabwe’s leading cricketers were preparing on Thursday to sue the Zimbabwe Cricket Board for unpaid salaries and fees in a civil action.
The Zimbabwe Professional Players’ Association engaged a leading lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, to pursue the Zimbabwe Cricket Board for more than $750 000 through the Harare High Court unless they receive the money owed to them by the end of the month.
After the Zimbabwe under-23 side was excluded from South Africa’s domestic provincial competition because it could not pay its fees for the second half of the season, there is concern that Zimbabwe Cricket will not be able to pay its contracted players.
The players say they have not been paid match fees for two Tests and six one-day internationals against New Zealand and India in August and September, plus salaries going back at least five months, together with other allowances and expenses.
The interim committee that was set up by the government’s Sports and Recreation Committee on January 3 to run the nation’s cricket board for six months has been given until the end of January to resolve the player dispute.
Mtetwa said she would not issue a summons against the board unless there they failed to meet the deadline.
”I have been engaged by the players to act for them in their claims, but I am naturally waiting to see what happens in the next six days.” she told The Associated Press.
The 35 players under previous contracts have said that they will not negotiate new ones until they have been paid.
Acting on behalf of the Zimbabwe Cricket Board, the new chairperson of the technical and player welfare committee, Crispin Tsvarai, met with the players’ representative Clive Field at the union’s offices on Tuesday for three-and-a-half hours of discussions. Further meetings are scheduled for later this week.
Tsvarai was not available for comment afterward but Field said: ”He is clearly doing his very best to try and find a solution, but because we are now in the middle of talks I cannot say any more than that for the moment. We will meet again in the next couple of days.” – Sapa-AP