11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

LONDON, April 10: Zimbabwe are on the brink of collapse as an international cricket team, according to former Test batsman Murray Goodwin. Now at English county Sussex, Goodwin said that several of his former team-mates were considering a boycott following the decision by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) to strip Heath Streak of the captaincy.

"I've spoken to some of the players and they are not very happy with the situation," Goodwin said on Friday.

"Now 14 of them are thinking of resigning," added Goodwin at Lord's where he was appearing for county champions Sussex against an MCC team led by former Zimbabwe skipper Andy Flower in the opening fixture of the English season.

"I don't know what will happen to Zimbabwe. It's a bit of a lottery. I was talking about this with Andy Flower and he said the players were on a 'hiding to nothing'.

"What I do know is that there isn't enough depth in Zimbabwean cricket to cope with the loss of 14 players and still compete effectively at international level."

Goodwin, 31, played the last of his 19 Tests for Zimbabwe away to England four years ago before calling time on his international career to pursue a more lucrative working life in the first-class arena.

All-rounder Neil Johnson quit at around the same time, the pair's decision to stop playing cricket at the highest level leaving Zimbabwe without two of their most experienced players.

But Goodwin, 31, who emigrated to Australia as a 13-year-old, said he had no regrets after bowing out of Test cricket with an impressive record of 1,414 runs at an average of over 42 with three hundreds.

"No, not at all. I'm just happy to be playing cricket all year round."

Goodwin, who racked up over 1500 first-class runs at an average of nearly 60 as Sussex won their first ever County Championship title last season, managed just 17 on Friday as Sussex were bowled out for 200.

Earlier on Friday reports suggested Andy Flower's younger brother Grant, himself a long-serving Zimbabwe Test batsman, appeared to have taken part in a player boycott of a leading fixture in the troubled African state.

Grant Flower failed to appear in a Logan Cup match - Zimbabwe's premier domestic competition - for Mashonaland against Midlands in the central town of Kwekwe.

Test all-rounder Andy Blignaut was also absent after the pair had sat by Streak and lawyer Chris Ventura for five-and-a-half hours as efforts to solve the impasse over the fast bowler's removal as captain proved fruitless.

But Andy Flower said on Friday: "I don't really want to say anything about that. I am here to captain MCC and play in this match.

"I'd rather concentrate on that," added Flower who, like Goodwin, now splits his career between England and Australia although he plays county cricket for Essex and Sheffield Shield games for South Australia.

Andy Flower, 35, a mainstay of Zimbabwe's side and a world-class batsman, retired from international cricket after last year's World Cup where, together with team-mate Henry Olonga, he staged a black armband protest mourning the "death of democracy" in the African state under President Robert Mugabe.

Sri Lanka are due to begin a tour of Zimbabwe in May with Australia to follow.

England are currently considering whether to go ahead with their November tour.-AFP