No Test return for Zimbabwe

Malcolm Speed: had earlier referred to Zimbabwe Cricket's accounts being 'deliberately falsified' © Getty Images Enlarge

Zimbabwe's self-imposed suspension from Test cricket will continue for the foreseeable future after the ICC said that Peter Chingoka, the board chairman, had reported that it was not yet ready to return.

Although the decision is put forward as being Zimbabwe's, the leaked comments by Malcolm Speed earlier in the week made it clear that there was no chance of them being allowed back.

Officially, the timing of when they come back remains with Zimbabwe Cricket.

The serious allegations of financial mismanagement - and again these were detailed in Speed's report - were all but ignored, with a comment that "it was agreed there would be an independent audit of ZC's accounts by an internationally recognized firm".

Speed was less subtle in his private report. In that, he said: "It is clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions from the auditors and the government of Zimbabwe. The accounts were incorrect and at no stage did ZC draw the attention of the users of these accounts to the unusual transactions. It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet."

The results of that audit will be presented to the next meeting of the ICC board in October 2007 in Dubai. The short timeline is slightly surprising given that it took the auditors appointed by Zimbabwe Cricket a year to come up with their findings.