It's now or never

Zimbabwe have been given one day to assemble a credible first XI or Australia's two-Test tour of the country may be shelved.

Speaking from Harare this morning, the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed set himself, Zimbabwe's administrators and their striking white players a one-day deadline to make peace. "We need to fix it in the next 24 hours," he told Channel Nine.

Speed flew into Zimbabwe on Monday night in a dramatic and belated intervention by the ICC, which has for months been steadfastly reluctant to involve itself in Zimbabwe's muddled inability to field their best white players. He will meet with both ZCU officials and the rebel players tomorrow, only three days before Saturday's first Test is scheduled to begin.

Asked about the chances of the series being postponed, Speed replied: "I've heard that and I know it has some currency in Australia ... I can't rule any of that out. [But] that hasn't emerged at this stage as a path we're going down as I speak tonight."

The ICC's principal worry appears to be Zimbabwe's rapidly worsening playing standards. Those concerns were emphasised overnight, when the Australians whipped out a Zimbabwe A side for 151 then matched their total for the loss of one wicket in 31 overs.

"I'm here at the moment with two messages for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union," said Speed. "The first is that there is widespread concern right throughout cricket - from the cricket-playing countries, from former players and current players - about the integrity of Test cricket. The second message is that we need to sort this out and we need to sort it out quickly."

Speed revealed that he has spoken "at length a couple of times" with Zimbabwe's former captain Heath Streak, whose sacking prompted the strike action by 15 white players. "I think I have a pretty good understanding of the issues there," Speed said. The striking players want Streak reappointed captain, the selection committee overhauled and ability, not colour, to again become the primary selection criteria.

It looks an ambitious wishlist, despite the ICC's last-minute intervention. The ZCU chairman, Peter Chingoka, said earlier this week that new captain Tatenda Taibu's tenure was "set in stone". Last night Grant Flower, one of the more vocal striking players, was pessimistic about the peace prospects: "I can't see anything happening before the Test matches. It is not going to happen overnight."

Various alternatives to a two-Test series between Australia and Zimbabwe have been mooted. The second Test in Bulawayo could be scrapped and replaced by a third one-day international. The possibility of no Tests and up to five one-dayers, thus preserving the sanctity of Test cricket, has also been mentioned.

Or else the players might just come straight home.