Mani - No plans to review Zimbabwe's status

Ehsan Mani: 'In all sporting competitions there are strong sides and weak ones and Test cricket is no different' © Getty Images

Ehsan Mani, the ICC's president, has said that there are no plans to review Zimbabwe's Test status despite the country's dismal performances in the last 18 months.

In an exclusive interview with Cricinfo, Mani said that any such decision was the responsibility of the Full Members (the ten Test-playing countries) and that while the possibility of suspending Zimbabwe to give them time to rebuild had been discussed, it was rejected as an option.

"In all sporting competitions there are strong sides and weak ones and Test cricket is no different," Mani said. "The history of the game is littered with examples of such teams going head-to-head resulting in one-sided contests. We recognise that some countries such as Zimbabwe are not at their strongest at the moment but also acknowledge they are in a rebuilding stage.

"There appears to be an underlying assumption in many matters concerning the ICC that someone, be it the President or the Chief Executive Officer, has the power to pick up the phone to, for example, suspend a Member but that is not the case. It is the Members themselves that determine such policy within the framework of the ICC's constitution.

But while Mani acknowledged that the ICC were following events inside Zimbabwe closely - "any situation where conflict exists is obviously regrettable" - he was keen to empahise that the politics of any member country was not the ICC's concern. "Our remit is cricket, not the internal politics of our Members."

Asked why the ICC acted against South Africa in the apartheid era and yet not against Zimbabwe, whose human rights record is the subject of widespread international concern, Mani said: "The issue of South Africa's sporting isolation was confirmed by a decision made by politicians when the Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 was produced and the ICC accepted that document. Economic and sporting sanctions were imposed against South Africa but no member government of an ICC country has sought to take such a stance against Zimbabwe."

He also reiterated that any country refusing to fulfill its obligations to tour would face financial penalties, but that there would not be any ICC repercussions against New Zealand in the light of their government refusing to allow Zimbabwe to visit. "The decision to stop Zimbabwe touring by refusing to issue their players with entry visas was one made by politicians and, as we have said previously, we will always abide by such decisions." However, he warned that such action could have consequences. "It would be worth observing that any unilateral or even multilateral action taken that may not be in accordance with the views of the majority might result in consequences. For example, if a Member wished to apply to host an ICC Event having earlier acted in a way that some of its fellow Members felt to be inappropriate then that might jeopardize its chances of securing that Event when the time came for a vote on the issue."

And Mani appeared to hint that he acknowledged the idea of assembling the best players in the world for the Super Series had not been that successful. Asked whether there had been any consideration given to raising an all-Africa side to replace Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa, he replied: "That argument says that a combined side might be able to boast more top-class players in its line-up than any side made up of the players from just one country. The Johnnie Walker Super Series has re-opened the debate about whether it is possible for players from more than one country to come together and form an effective team. The merger of teams into one line-up may also impact on players' ability to represent their country of birth, something many of them would always aspire to do."