Zimbabwe players prepared to quit

Zimbabwe's players held a crisis meeting in Harare this morning to discuss their futures following the Zimbabwe Cricket Union's disputed claim that Heath Streak had resigned the captaincy. The ZCU issued a statement last Friday saying that Streak had quit, but he has since denied this.

The meeting, attended by about a dozen of the contracted players, broke for lunch and was expected to resume at 16.30 local time (14.30 GMT). Vince Hogg, the ZCU chief executive, who held emergency talks with Streak and several players in an increasingly desperate bid to defuse the situation, was in attendance as was Osias Bvute, another board member.

Hogg revealed that the players had delegated Streak, Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut and a lawyer to represent them. "I've had a meeting with a group of players, and they're meeting with us again this afternoon," he told Reuters. "We want to resolve all the issues, even if it takes all Easter weekend to do it.

"It is all very tense and volatile," he continued. "I am very concerned about it. We are certainly in a crisis situation. I cannot stress too much the tensions here at the moment."

Before the meeting, a senior player told London's Guardian newspaper that things had reached break point. "Come the morning 11 guys will probably resign," he said. "We're meeting with the lawyers now to discuss a few legal matters, just in case the ZCU decides to take it to court. Our A team is still in Bangladesh and some of them will follow suit when they come back on Friday. You're looking at about 15 or 16 guys getting out of cricket."

Another player said that the officials had been told that those backing Streak "wanted to resign over Zimbabwe's selection policies and the make-up of the selection panel."

Hogg revealed that he was still having separate talks with Streak over the captaincy situation.