Zimbabwe not ready for Tests

[hearts on fire]

http://www.cricket.com.au/default.aspx? ... y&id=15268

An interim report on Zimbabwe's cricket future has recommended that the troubled nation may not be ready to return to Test cricket for another two years.

The report, tabled on Saturday at the International Cricket Council (ICC) board's first quarterly meeting in Perth, is a forerunner of a final report on Zimbabwe's future as a Test-playing nation, which will be tabled at the next meeting in Dubai in April.

Compiled by West Indian Cricket Board President Dr Julian Hunte and ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, the report indicated that none of the Zimbabwe Cricket stakeholders spoken to during Hunt and Lorgat's visit to the nation last November were of the view Zimbabwe was ready to return to Test cricket, with timeframes proposed ranging from six months to two years or more.

A media release issued by the ICC on Saturday night made no mention of any further audits being conducted into Zimbabwe Cricket's (ZC) finances, despite an independent audit last year concluding there were serious flaws with the organisation's financial administration.

That same audit did not name anyone as being specifically responsible for the mismanagement of ZC and ICC funds, a conclusion that led to previous ICC chief executive Malcom Speed resigning from the body.

ZC chairman Peter Chingoka has not travelled to Perth for this meeting, his place taken by Wilfred Mukondiwa, with Chingoka publicly banned from entering the European Union after being associated with the wave of violence that swept Zimbabwe in March last year after incumbent president Robert Mugabe retained his position of power.

Zimbabwe, though, has not played a Test match since January 2006, while the national team played just 12 one-day international matches last year and failed to win any of them, with national coach Robin Brown not having his contract renewed towards the end of 2008.

Other matters addressed on the first day of the two-day ICC Board meeting included the Future Tours Program and both the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) oppose a proposed enhanced Test-match championship series.

However discussion relating to Future Tours and slow over rates have been deferred to the ICC chief executive committee meeting which will be held in Johannesburg next month.

Proposals that the rebel Indian Cricket League be given ICC blessing have also been deferred to a later date, depending on current talks between the BCCI and the ICL.

[Pidge]

Forget Zimbabwe. Let Kenya become a test playing nation

[spell_check]

Chingoka is as much to blame for the state of Zimbabwean cricket as Mugabe, so the words "Test cricket" and "Zimbabwe" should not be said positively in a sentence for as long as he is in there.

[LBT]

At least Australia might be able to beat them at the moment.....maybe