A land of tyranny

Peter Roebuck writes in the Age that the situation in Zimbabwe has hardly improved and the ICC cannot keep sweeping it under the carpet.

Make no mistake, cricket is in Zimbabwe up to its neck. The leaders of the game in that benighted land work hand in hand with Zanu pf. Peter Chingoka, the long standing chairman of a disreputable board, is allied to the influential Mujuru faction. He has mining interests, vast investments and houses overseas. Ozias Bvute, his opportunistic and thuggish CEO, is cut from the same stone. These fat cats did not actually pour the burning plastic but they gained from the activities of the CIO, Green Bombers and all the other ghastly representatives of the repressive state.

An International Cricket Council delegation is in Harare to investigate the running of the game. The delegates each have different roles, Haroon Lorgat (ICC CEO and an accountant), Julian Hunte (governance) and Arjuna Ranatunga (coaching). It is a step in the right direction, taken despite Zimbabwe Cricket's protests. After all, $18.8 million was allocated to ZC last year and cricket is entitled to know how it was spent.

Judging from the unpaid hotel bills, unpaid wages, overgrown club grounds, cancelled matches and disintegrating standards, precious little has been spent directly on cricket. Mind you, ZC did manage to send 14 officials on its last under-19 tour to South Africa.