Associates unhappy with Zimbabwe A-team plan

Cricket's leading Associates, supported by the ICC's own chief executives' committee, lodged objections to Zimbabwe being allowed to enter an A team into the 2009-10 Intercontinental Cup.

Zimbabwe were included in the tournament as part of plans to help them return to the Test arena formulated following a fact-finding mission and report by Julian Hunte, the president of the West Indies board. However, it was generally believed this meant they would field a full team in the competition.

But Zimbabwe announced that it would treat the event as a chance to bring on youngsters, a move which left Associates far from impressed.

"If the idea is this prepares them for Test cricket, then surely they should be made to field the players who are going to be in that Test side," one Associate chairman told Cricinfo. "An A team means that if they lose they can shrug and say 'well, it's not our main side' and yet if they win they can boast then even their second-string squad is good enough."

At the ICC's recent annual get together, both the Associates meeting and the chief executives' committee separately tabled their concerns about this and pushed for Zimbabwe to be made to enter their best XI.

Senior ICC officials refused to force the issue, claiming that Hunte's report did not compel Zimbabwe to enter a full-strength team. As a compromise, the side is likely to be known as Zimbabwe XI rather than Zimbabwe A.

"Call them what you like," the chairman said. " Again the ICC has fudged the issue and allowed Zimbabwe off the hook."

However, Roddy Smith, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, told Cricinfo that "even if it is a Zimbabwe XI it is a step in the right direction in terms of more games against Full Members or their A sides … I very much welcome their addition into the Intercontinental Cup."