LONDON, April 21: Zimbabwe's senior cricket administrator has said Heath Streak will not regain the national team captaincy as part of a peace deal with the country's 15 rebel white players.

Re-instating Streak as captain has been a key demand of the rebels ever since the pace bowler sparked the present dispute by complaining about the composition of Zimbabwe's selection panel.

But Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) chairman Peter Chingoka said here on Tuesday: "There is no reverse gear on the captaincy. The captaincy decision is set in stone." ZCU officials have always insisted that Streak resigned although the player's father - who was once imprisoned by President Robert Mugabe's security services - said his son had been sacked.

In Streak's absence, 20-year-old wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu became the first black cricketer and the youngest ever international captain when he led Zimbabwe during Tuesday's One-day International against Sri Lanka in Bulawayo. A much-changed Zimbabwe side eventually lost a bad-light affected match by 12 runs but not before Taibu had made an unbeaten 96.

Streak was unhappy with the lack of cricket experience among some members of the selection panel and called for changes, his comments coming against a backdrop of claims the team was being chosen on the basis of a racial quota system rather than cricket ability.

Chingoka showed AFP in London a copy of a letter he said Streak had faxed to the ZCU on March 25 in which the fast bowler threatened to resign if his conditions were not met.

The letter also warned of several consequences if the ZCU did not accept these conditions including player resignations, tour cancellations by Australia and England and an International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into Streak's allegations.

Chingoka, who was in London for a meeting on Tuesday with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) officials to discuss England's planned October tour, said no cricket authority in the world would accept restrictions on its authority to select a captain of its choice. -AFP