Bvute comes out fighting

Ozias Bvute: 'I have never worked for the government' © Getty Images

Ozias Bvute, who until now has been happy to remain in the shadows of the ZCU, has given his first major interview as part of the Zimbabwe board's new media charm-offensive.

Bvute spoke to the Harare-based Independent at the end of a week in which his role in the dispute between the rebel players and the ZCU has been under close scrutiny and in which he has had several allegations regarding his behaviour towards individuals leveled against him. One report even accused him of being an agent for the Central Intelligence Organisation.

"I have never worked for the government," Bvute explained. "People have just personalised this issue." And rather than work for the regime, he claimed that he was a victim of it. "I bought a commercial farm but as we speak there are people with offer letters fighting for the farm. If I were a member of the CIO or worked for the government, do you think my farm would have been targeted?"

But the main reason for the interview was for Bvute to put his side of the events surrounding the decision to sack the rebel players. "The problem with Zimbabwean cricket was that it was not accountable," he explained. "With the blessing of all these [white] players, why were we always ranked No. 9 until the blessing of Bangladesh coming in at No. 10? We could go on losing and that was it. After our loss to Bangladesh, we wanted an explanation and the selectors met to make some changes.

"A history of strikes has always been prevalent in Zimbabwe cricket. There was racism towards non-white players."

He went on to repeat the oft-repeated claims of Peter Chingoka that there is a deeper plot to subvert Zimbabwe cricket. "I genuinely know there's a huge third force behind this," he said. "The truth will come out."

And he dismissed suggestions that he had no cricketing background. "Contrary to people who say I can't even hold a bat, I've played cricket at primary and secondary school level," he added. "I went to university in India and for the four years that I was there I developed an intense passion for cricket."