Zimbabwe players and officials are demanding that the chief executive of the International Cricket Council resigns because he failed to address the sporting crisis in the country.
The chairperson of all seven provinces, players’ representatives, former Zimbabwe Cricket directors, and other ”stakeholders” accuse Malcolm Speed of failing in his duty by refusing to intervene.
In a letter to Speed, they said that the new management of Zimbabwe Cricket, headed by chairperson Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute, should not be recognised by the international council.
”They remain in their positions only because the Zimbabwe government arbitrarily appointed a temporary committee, most of whom know nothing about cricket” said Richie Kaschula, a former international bowler who was recently sacked as full-time selector.
”The ICC declined to intervene, which should have been their duty.”
The letter said ICC inaction over the two-year-old crisis was one of the reasons why so many quality players were leaving Zimbabwe.
It added that Speed was wrong to allow Chingoka to investigate himself and Bvute following widespread allegations of corruption, and had failed to ensure that he received the requested full audit of Zimbabwe Cricket’s financial affairs.
Speed was also accused of doing nothing to enforce his instructions to Zimbabwe to solve player strikes.
”We believe that in the interests of cricket worldwide you should do the honorable thing and resign your position,” the letter concluded.
Copies have been sent to every Test-playing country seeking support.
In October last year, the provincial chairperson, several directors, clubs and players combined to confront Chingoka and Bvute, demanding their resignation and dismissal respectively, alluding in a long list of ”queries” to allegedly dubious financial dealings.
Chingoka and Bvute were arrested by Harare police following Reserve Bank investigations but released on the instruction of Zimbabwe’s attorney general.
Repeated requests to the ICC to intervene have been rejected, with ICC claiming it is a purely internal matter.
When the government took over Zimbabwe Cricket through its Sports and Recreation Commission in January, the terms of reference were to solve the dispute involving player salaries, fees and contracts by the end of the month and a new draft constitution to be in place by the end of March.
Neither has happened and the election of a new board is scheduled for July. – Sapa-AP