South Africans urge ICC's intervention in Zimbabwe
BULAWAYO/CAPE TOWN, April 19: South Africa's cricketers have urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to step in to end a racially-charged row in neighbouring Zimbabwe as Sri Lanka prepared to meet a second-string team.
Long-running wrangling over racial quotas in the white-dominated sport have spilled over in the last fortnight with 13 leading white players refusing to play, forcing the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) to select a squad of inexperienced players to face Sri Lanka in Tuesday's first one-day match.
"It is clear the situation cannot be resolved internally in the current environment," Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers' Association, said on Monday. "This has now become an international concern and it's our belief that the ICC must become involved to try and safeguard the best interests of cricket.
"Every player association around the world believes firmly in resolving its own issues wherever possible, unless there are extreme circumstances which have international implications, and these are both extreme and international."
The latest row to hit Zimbabwe cricket erupted when the ZCU said that captain Heath Streak had retired from all cricket - only for Streak's father to deny it.
Twelve other players refused to play unless Streak was reinstated and demanded selector Max Ebrahim be removed, prompting legal action from both sides alleging breach of contract.
Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu steered away from the controversy ahead of the first One-day International on Tuesday. "We will approach this series just as we approach all the others, we don't care who plays for the opposition," Atapattu said in Bulawayo. "It's not for us to say who Zimbabwe should pick in their teams.
"We are here to represent our own country and we will play as hard as we always do. In 10 or 15 years' time people will look back on this tour and it won't matter who was playing. It will be the result of the series that counts."
But Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he hoped to meet a full-strength side when he leads his team to Zimbabwe straight after the Sri Lanka series. "It would be disappointing for the player group to go there and play a second or third string side," Ponting said.
The dispute comes at a particularly bad time, with ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka in London for a meeting on Tuesday to try to convince England's cricket bosses to go ahead with a tour in October. The England team refused to play in Zimbabwe during last year's World Cup citing security fears.
Britain's government has spearheaded international sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government over alleged rigging in his 2002 re-election. -Reuters
