Chingoka faces no-confidence motion

The latest crisis in Zimbabwe cricket took a turn for the worse when Mashonaland, the biggest cricket province in the country, proposed a vote of no confidence against Peter Chingoka, the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, and his 12-member board of directors. A special general meeting will be held on December 22 in Harare to discuss the matter.

The issue which irked the Mashonaland Cricket Association (MCA) was the manner in which the Zimbabwe board rebranded itself, a move which cost around Zim$600 million (about £60,000). A letter written jointly by 19 of the 20 clubs which constitute the MCA stated the reason for the move: "Under the constitution, the change of name should have been debated at all levels, club and provincial, and the provincial chairmen should have been able to meet so as to ratify it. This did not happen."

The MCA held a media conference last Thursday to offer details about its complaint, after which Chingoka attempted to explain the urgency with which the branding had been changed: "The [rebranding] exercise was rushed in order to capitalise on the England tour," he told in a letter to the provincial chairmen. "I accept that communication on this exercise could have been better than it was ," it said. "I proffer apologies for proper procedures not being followed. My recommendation is to review this matter in the near future."

However, that didn't satisfy Mashonaland, whose general manager Givemore Makoni told AFP: "That's simply not good enough. We are definitely going ahead with this [the no-confidence motion]."