Little has changed since report claims Streak

Heath Streak: 'I put a lot of blame on Peter Chingoka' © Getty Images

In his first interview since Zimbabwe's rebels announced that they were ending their protest against the board (ZC), Heath Streak has said that little has changed inside Zimbabwe despite the ICC's recommendations which formed part of the findings of the racism hearing.

Although the ICC ruled there was no evidence of racism inside Zimbabwe Cricket, it made a number of recommendations as to the way the board should operate. "The irony is that at the end it gave the stamp of approval to the recommendations we had been making all along," Streak told Australia's Radio Sport 927. "I think that if the ICC wants to be what it is meant to be, it should be policing these because we haven't seen any changes."

Streak said that two of the major issues had not been addressed - "The restructuring of the selection panel, so it has people of knowledge and experience, and outstanding issues concerning some of the board members who have been involved in accusations of racism." He might have to wait. Although the ICC's recommendations were a key part of the report, it appears that it has no powers to enforce them.

And Streak was particularly critical of Peter Chingoka, the board's chairman. "The irony is that he is a weak character," he explained. "I put a lot of blame on him for allowing this to go as far as it has. If he had cricket at heart then he wouldn't be accepting gratuities of £50,000 when grass-level cricket is in crisis and clubs are collapsing. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee." Chingoka admitted taking a bonus payment during the last financial year, a revelation that caused anger at the board's AGM in August. There have been reports, as yet unconfirmed, that he has been paid another bonus in recent weeks.

Streak told Radio Sport 927 that he had been offered a new contract by the board, albeit on a lower salary and conditional on him dropping his complaints. "I was offered a contract but the fact that nothing had changed. They wanted me to pull out of the racism enquiry which was just about to happen ... since then I have heard nothing.

"I do see myself playing for Zimbabwe again but there need to be changes. I think those recommendations need to be put in place and then maybe there is a future for not only myself but others to return to the fold in a situation where there is no racism."

But Streak's relationship with the board remains strained. Earlier this month he agreed to coach Mashonaland, his province, free of charge only for the board to angrily intervene and demand that he stand down.

As it is, Streak has only one match penciled in before he resumes playing for Warwickshire next April - against England. "I have a game on December 8 playing for Nicky Oppenheimer's XI in a warm-up match in South Africa," he said. "But who knows?"