I think it's ridiculous. They're afraid Mugabe will show up at the ground, shake hands and photos taken resulting in a Daily Mail front page. So a youngster like Mutizwa fails to get precious playing time because of a headline. Like I've said it's ridiculous
Other countries tour without a problem and Bvute should just agree to host the match in SA - then sort this problem afterwards. I want our A team to win this competition by playing it, to avoid the ECB mourning about our progress when Test cricket resumes.
The ECB will always find an excuse not to tour Zimbabwe until president Mugabe is out of power. Until he dies, which i hope will be soon, we can forget about playing international cricket against England
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has confirmed receiving official notification from Cricket Scotland about the Scottish governments directive not to tour Zimbabwe for the scheduled ICC Intercontinental Cup matches against the Zimbabwe A team.
"The decision is regrettable," said ZC managing director Ozias Bvute. "We have consulted with our various authorities who have all ruled out the possibility of these matches being played in a neutral venue," he added.
"I remain of the belief that sport can build bridges and I have confidence that it can also act as a catalyst for healing and national unity. It is with this in mind that we hope that in the not too distant future, all the strained sporting relations will be restored for the common good of all," said Bvute.
It's an A team match - no television rights, no meaningful attendance figures, etc at stake. It's not Zimbabwe's birth right to be included in the Intercontinental Cup, in fact they are lucky to be in the position where they can have a team in the competition. ZC should be going out of their way to appease the other associate boards (whose chances of reaching the final are diminished by Zimbabwe's presence), and if that means playing abroad then so be it.
The sensible thing to do - the common sense approach - would be to just play the game in South Africa. It's an A team match for God's sake... and Ireland have already agreed to tour. Playing in SA isn't going to set a precedent. Holding Scotland over a barrel like this achieves nothing, besides putting more people off side. The ICC are to blame as well. Roddy Smith is absolutely correct; they unfairly shifted the goal posts.
sloandog wrote:The ECB will always find an excuse not to tour Zimbabwe until president Mugabe is out of power. Until he dies, which i hope will be soon, we can forget about playing international cricket against England
It's not good for you to store up so much hate at a young age
maehara wrote:ZC statement. Note the highlighted portion:
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has confirmed receiving official notification from Cricket Scotland about the Scottish governments directive not to tour Zimbabwe for the scheduled ICC Intercontinental Cup matches against the Zimbabwe A team.
"The decision is regrettable," said ZC managing director Ozias Bvute. "We have consulted with our various authorities who have all ruled out the possibility of these matches being played in a neutral venue," he added.
"I remain of the belief that sport can build bridges and I have confidence that it can also act as a catalyst for healing and national unity. It is with this in mind that we hope that in the not too distant future, all the strained sporting relations will be restored for the common good of all," said Bvute.
Way to go Ozias, first blood Zim! This man is way too smooth and too smart for those dithering Scots. Despite his statement of "consultatioons with stakeholders", you can be very sure that it was his decision not to play at a neutral venue, the rest just rubber stamped it
