HARARE, May 7: Zimbabwe's rebel cricketers have agreed to mediation and will make themselves available for selection, one of the players told Reuters on Friday.

The breakthrough was made during a meeting between the 15 players and Much Masunda, a professional arbitrator.

"It's going to go through mediation," the player said. "We met this morning and it was made clear to us that legally this should go through a mediation process first and hopefully that will lead to arbitration.

"That's where we're heading for now and the players will make themselves available now." The players had threatened to cancel their contracts with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) unless the board agreed to binding arbitration.

The crisis was sparked on April 2 when Heath Streak's tenure as Zimbabwe captain ended after he questioned the composition of the selection panel. Streak and 14 other experienced players made themselves unavailable and said they would continue to do so until the ZCU agreed to binding arbitration on Streak's removal from the captaincy, the composition of the selection panel and alleged poor conduct by board officials.

The board offered mediation, which is not binding, and which the players had rejected until Friday. Zimbabwe had to select a weakened team for the one-day internationals against Sri Lanka, who won the series 5-0. A similar Zimbabwe side was struggling badly again on Friday on the second day of the first Test between the two teams. -Reuters