Marillier - 'No resolution in prospect'

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has made a second attempt at conciliation with the 15 rebel cricketers, as the threat of international sanction grows more apparent in the wake of Sunday's humiliation at the hands of Sri Lanka. But, according to the former Zimbabwean allrounder, Doug Marillier, the two sides are still no closer to a resolution.

Last Thursday, Heath Streak and Grant Flower rejected a ZCU-proposed arbitration process, in which a prominent local businessman, Much Masunda, was suggested as the mediator. According to a source close to the ZCU, Streak and Flower turned down the proposal outright, although they agreed to speak to their colleagues about it.

Now, the ZCU has followed up by saying that, if the players make themselves available for selection immediately, "their outstanding grievances [can be] ventilated before an independent mediator". According to the ZCU's latest press release, the most recent discussions with Streak indicated there was hope of a "speedy and amicable resolution of the problem", and that "the players are anxious to come back into the fold".

But, in the opinion of Marillier, who retired shortly before the stand-off began, the players and administrators are no closer to resolving their dispute. "The Zimbabwe Cricket Union seems to be telling everyone things are on the mend," Marillier told the BBC. "But as far as the players are concerned there's nothing going on."

On Sunday, a hugely under-strength team crashed to a record-low score of 35 against Sri Lanka, and the absence of Zimbabwe's wealth of experienced players could not have been more starkly illustrated. "Three of the guys who select the national side have never played above the standard of club cricket," added Marillier. "They are playing with people's careers, people's livelihoods, yet they are not educated in cricket enough to be picking those sides."

"A lot of the players that have been left out deserved to be playing and were left out for reasons other than cricketing reasons," he continued. "When it first started it came in bit by bit and people managed to deal with it because it wasn't that big a thing. But when the whole balance of the side is being picked for reasons that aren't cricketing it doesn't make any sense."