A travesty of Test cricket

It is a travesty of Test cricket. A wise and courageous ICC would have told the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to get its act together regarding the dissident players and agree to arbitration, or face having to compensate Sri Lanka for the withdrawal of Test status from the current series.

But, as so often in the past, the ICC has failed to acknowledge a crisis, and Zimbabwean cricket - and the international game at large - will be so much the worse for it. There have been occasions in the past when Test countries have turned out virtual second elevens to play official Test matches, most notably during the Packer breakaway. But never has this happened to a team as weak as Zimbabwe.

If you take into account that, since 2000, more than 20 international players have followed the example of Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson - both of whom also had disputes with the administrators - this could at best be considered a Zimbabwean third eleven. Yet the ZCU is so politicised that, given a choice between 15 of the best cricketers in the country and four racially and politically motivated administrators (Bvute, Ebrahim, Makoni and Mukuhlani), they preferred to keep the four in harness.

But the Mugabe philosophy is to seize power and hold it at all costs, even if you destroy all that you have power over, confident in the knowledge that the rest of the world will wring their hands but do nothing. So what if sponsors pull out (as they are already doing), or even if the television companies decide it would be a waste of their money to cover Zimbabwe matches in the future, thereby removing the ZCU's major source of income? It is all about power, and therefore the whites must go, along with any and every black who shows dissent.

The result will be a travesty of international cricket and humiliation for a horrifyingly inexperienced Zimbabwe side whose oldest available player is the 25-year-old Mark Vermeulen, and he has not made the final eleven. Their 13-man (or boy) Test squad holds 62 Test caps between them. The most experienced is Dion Ebrahim (20), while Tatenda Taibu (14 caps) is the youngest Test captain in history.

On a scale of one to ten, the new Zimbabwe team's batting strength probably rates at one, while the bowling is altogether more powerful, coming in at two. This means that the Sri Lankan batsmen, should they summon the motivation to make a double-century or three, will have to work reasonably hard for them. But it will indeed be a surprise if the home side can summon up 200 runs in an innings, even on a plumb pitch, against the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Much the same was thought before the first one-day international, but Taibu played a superb innings and Zimbabwe did pass 200, although they still lost the match fairly comfortably. But Test cricket is an altogether different and harder game, and there will be no hiding place for the callow, although Ebrahim and Taibu are capable of big innings at times. But if this line-up can post a competitive score, it will be a serious indictment of the Sri Lankan approach.

One thing Sri Lanka must not do is play soft and take it easy, hard though self-motivation may be against such feeble opposition. Whatever happens in the first Test, they must play their full team in the second as well. It is in their interests, and that of all cricket-playing countries, even if the ICC itself is still in blissful ignorance, that the strongest possible team represents Zimbabwe, and the only way that may now be possible is by hammering the new team so hard that even the politicians within ZCU realize that their position is unsustainable. But it may well be too late now.

Zimbabwe cricket has been ambushed by Mugabe's minions and the ICC has chosen to pass by on the other side. There is no Good Samaritan in this story, so will Zimbabwe cricket be left to die?

Zimbabwe 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Brendan Taylor, 3 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 4 Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), 5 Elton Chigumbura, 6 Alester Maregwede, 7 Prosper Utseya, 8 Mluleki Nkala, 9 Blessing Mahwire, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Tinashe Panyangara.

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Marvan Atapattu (captain), 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Dilhara Fernando.