Zimbabwe players likely to boycott upcoming tri-series against Pakistan, Australia

The financial woes of the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) do not seem to end. The cricket board is due to pay the pending salaries of the national players. The board owes three months’ salary and the match fees of the players from the Zimbabwe’s tour of Sri Lanka last season. Now, the players of Zimbabwe have given the board an ultimatum to settle their dues. As a mark of their protest, the players have stopped attending the practice sessions.

Also, the players have threatened the board to clear the dues else they will boycott the upcoming tri-series against Australia and Pakistan. Team Zimbabwe is scheduled to host the T20 tri-series in July this year. However, the players have made it clear that if the dues are not settled by June 25, they will boycott the series. Later this season, the team is also expected to host Pakistan in an ODI series.

Even that series is under the dark clouds at the moment. Next week, the newly-appointed Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput is set to begin his duties. He might end up facing a no show from the players at the net session. The players have appointed lawyer Gerald Mlotchwa to be their spokesperson. But another major problem in ZC is that the spokesperson has no idea who to talk to since the entire administration is in disarray. Meanwhile, a ZC official remarked that the board will try to settle the dues soon.

“Due to a very difficult financial situation beyond its control, ZC has been unable to meet some of its obligations, including paying player and staff salaries in time. However, because this is a matter of top priority, ZC has been working round the clock to address the challenge and, as promised to the players by our chairman, ZC expects to start processing payments this week,” a Zimbabwe Cricket spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo.

“It is a complete joke”

The ZC is expecting a payout from the ICC but that might not arrive before the deadline given by the players. One of the players rued the fact that the entire system is a joke. Nobody has an idea about how things are going to work out in the days to come.

“It’s a complete joke at the moment. ZC made out as though some players were injured to save face. They didn’t bother that the big-name players weren’t available, they just needed to get the games out of the way. No-one knows how things will work going forward,” one of the players quoted.

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