Zimbabwe Players Threaten to Pull Out of T20I Series

Zimbabwe players have given a final warning to their governing body Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) to pull out of the upcoming Twenty20 International series.

Pertinently, the Zimbabwean players have given an ultimatum of June 25 to their board. If the Board fails to deliver the pending payment to their cricketers, players will boycott the T20I series with Pakistan and Australia respectively.

Surprisingly, the Zimbabwe players are owed three months salary by their board.

In fact, the players didn’t even receive their payments of the last tour of Sri Lanka which was held in July, last year. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will host Pakistan for five One-day Internationals, later this year.

This is not a good sign for Zimbabwe Cricket:

Meanwhile, interim head coach of Zimbabwe Lalchand Rajput will arrive in the country on June 10. However, Rajput could be disappointed as he might not get players to train.

The players have appointed lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa to represent their case.

However, it not clear against whom Gerald would be contesting. ZC hasn’t yet appointed a new managing director after Faisal Hussain’s departure in April.

But, an official has confirmed that the cricket board should start processing payments in this week.

A Zimbabwe Cricket official said while talking to ESPN Cricinfo, “Due to a very difficult financial situation beyond its control, ZC has been unable to meet some of its obligations, including paying a player and staff salaries in time. 

ZC has always fought with the debt crisis. In fact, they are in a debt of $19 million. One of the players added that it is really frustrating as they aren’t getting their dues on time.

“However, because this is a matter of top priority, ZC has been working round the clock to address the challenge and, as promised to the players by our chairman, ZC expects to start processing payments this week,” the official added.

“It’s a complete joke at the moment. ZC made out as though some players were injured to save face. They didn’t bother that the big-name players weren’t available, they just needed to get the games out of the way. No-one knows how things will work going forward,” one player added.

It is disappointing to note that Zimbabwe is finding it difficult to survive. In fact, players like Brendon Taylor had gone for the Kolpak deal because of the money factor.

However, Taylor has now made a comeback into the national side alongside Kyle Jarvis.

The world cricket governing body International Cricket Council (ICC) must look at ways to help ZC in a bid to rise from the ashes.