No-show Cremer leaves English club in the lurch

Zimbabwe's Graeme Cremer has been slammed by an Oxfordshire club side after he failed to honour an agreement to play for them this summer.

According to the Oxford Mail, Cremer had signed a contract to play and coach at Aston Rowant and was due to make his debut this weekend. But when club officials tried to contact him to confirm travel arrangements, they received a text message from Cremer saying he was no longer coming.

Paul Humphreys, Aston Rowant's captain, told the newspaper that the club was considering writing to the ICC for advice. "I've been told that there is no point in going to Zimbabwe Cricket because we won't get anything out of them," said Humphreys. "We could take it up with him because he has already broken his contract. We are out of pocket as a club and it is hugely frustrating for us.

"It's a bit of a muddle. We've been trying to get to the bottom of it. Two weeks ago he was selected to play for Zimbabwe A after being out of favour for a couple of years. Because he had already signed for us, he said it would be beneficial for him to play in the UK."

But Zimbabwe Cricket is blocking its cricketers from playing abroad, and all those who took part in the World Cup were forced to sign contracts agreeing not to seek overseas employment or they would have been dropped. Last summer several players, including Terry Duffin and Ed Rainsford, played for UK clubs.

Cremer did not sign such a contract, but it seems he changed his mind about playing for Aston Rowant once he was picked to represent Zimbabwe A against a touring Kenya Select XI. It is reported that he was told in no uncertain terms by Ozias Bvute, ZC's managing director, that if he joined an English club then he was finished as far as Zimbabwe cricket was concerned.

However, Cricinfo has learned that Cremer failed to advise the club even though he knew he would not be coming more than a week before he texted them. "I just checked with him on Wednesday that he was OK," Humphreys said. "He sent me a text message saying 'no I'm not coming, I thought you had already been told this'. But when I contacted his agent, he had no idea about this and thought he was going to honour his contract."