17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

LONDON, July 16: Zimbabwe's rebel cricketers have until Wednesday to agree to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) plan for arbitration in their dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union , Chris Venturas, the players' legal representative said on Friday.

Following a meeting earlier on Friday in London with ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, Venturas told AFP: "We've been given until Wednesday 5pm to make a decision about arbitration.

"I'll be recommending we go for it. But I don't know yet what they (the players) are going to say about it." On Wednesday the ZCU agreed to the ICC's offer to set up a three-man tribunal, sitting in Zimbabwe, in a bid to end the crisis that has plagued Zimbabwe cricket for several months.

One member would be nominated by the ZCU, the other by the players, and the third, the chairman, by these two people. In April the ZCU sacked then Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak after the fast bowler, now at English county Warwickshire, accused the board of making some team selections based on race rather than merit.

When his colleague tried but failed to get Streak reinstated they went on strike in protest. That led the ZCU to sack a total of 15 senior players, all white, a massive loss for a country with an already small pool of cricketers to choose from.

During ICC's executive board meeting, at its Lord's headquarters, on June 30 the governing body told both the ZCU and the players they had 14 days to agree to their three-man arbitration system.

The bulk of the rebels are currently in England for a six-game charity tour designed to raise money for the Zimbabwean Cricketers Fund and the Zimbabwe Pensioners Fund.

Venturas insisted arbitration was what the players had wanted all along. "As I explained to Malcolm (Speed), this is what we had been asking for but we were stonewalled by the ZCU. For arbitration to work it needs the consent of both parties." He remained hopeful the players would agree to the ICC's offer. -AFP