South Africa to reconsider restoring Zimbabwe links

Cricket South Africa is set to review its decision to suspend bilateral relations with Zimbabwe Cricket in the light of Norman Arendse's resignation as its president last week.

Arendse was the instigator of the cutting of ties with ZC in June because of what he said was "the worsening situation in Zimbabwe". At the time the move was greeted with surprise as CSA had been staunch supporters of Peter Chingoka and his board.

While Arendse was openly critical of the situation inside Zimbabwe, other senior officials have steadfastly backed the Chingoka regime and have gone to great lengths to help Zimbabwe's young players get as much exposure to quality cricket as possible.

It is now believed that CSA will reconsider the decision when it meets on October 11 and it is quite possible that bilateral ties will be resumed almost immediately. The power-sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangarai, assuming that it holds, makes a restoration of relations all the more likely.

It is generally believed that any such about-turn will come too late for Zimbabwe to be admitted to South Africa's provincial competitions in 2008-09, although they could be squeezed into the MTN Domestic Championship and Standard Bank Pro20.