No sign of wrongs being righted

Zimbabwe Cricket is a powerful analogy of the country itself - once beautiful but ruined by greed and mismanagement. The economy is now facing collapse with constant shortages of basic necessities. Fuel is one of them and for the first time in 30 years the inter-city club competition was cancelled because there was no reliable transport. The Zimbabwe cricket team has to play under these kinds of conditions on a regular basis.

A lot has changed since I left Zimbabwe in March 2003. I knew my life would never be the same after Andy Flower and I donned our black armbands. It was an exciting, albeit bittersweet, time. Zimbabwe grabbed a Super Six slot in the World Cup, yet our country was reeling from economic strain and political turmoil. I remember thinking how lucky it rained the whole day of our match against Pakistan; our progression to the Super Six gave me an opportunity to leave Zimbabwe.

One thing has not changed. On a New Zealand tour our player-coach David Houghton reminded us of the power we had to raise the spirits of people at home. Cricket means so much to so many. It is the one piece of white history left intact in a country where the government has declared white people enemies of the state. The blacks are still creating a legacy but many see it as a way out of the hardships of life. Countries need heroes and cricket is offering that. Its survival there is as important as the survival of the economy. Whether either survives depends on the political elite, who are also the custodians of the game. Eyebrows were raised at the ZCU's AGM this year when Robert Mugabe was re-elected patron. The dictionary definition of patron is one who supports, protects or champions someone or something. It is hard to know which category Mugabe falls under.

Like the country itself Zimbabwe's cricket needs someone who will protect and champion its people. But there is not the political will. Recently two of my peers, Brian Murphy and Gavin Rennie, "retired". Rennie was told he was too old for the national team. He is 27. The team that toured England this summer clearly lacked experience. Murphy is one of the unsung heroes of the World Cup. Flower, I understand, was going to be dropped for the Pool A game against Australia. Murphy stood up with others and told the management he would not play if this happened. He was told he would never play for Zimbabwe again.

There are more examples of victimisation. The 2000 England tour was threatened by a player boycott over pay. ZCU administrators have not forgotten or forgiven the offence. The battle lines were drawn when the players set up a union to protect themselves. It has since become almost routine for any player who shows dissent to be shown no mercy.

As long as the players and administrators feel polarised true progress will never be achieved. Players have left en masse since the 1999 World Cup - players whom Zimbabwe could ill afford to lose. Remember the class of Neil Johnson and Murray Goodwin, the reliability of Andy Whittall, the talented Strang brothers, Alistair Campbell, Guy Whittall and Pommie Mbangwa? Everton Matambanadzo and Brighton Watambwa, two of Zimbabwe's most experienced black players, have gone to the United States for good. At our best we had the potential to beat a lot of teams. Losing one of these players is bad enough but losing a whole generation is terrible. There has to be something wrong with a system that chases players away.

One reason is that in Zimbabwe's economy you need foreign currency. World Cup players had half their money taken by the government who then paid out in local currency. One said he stood to lose 40 million Zimbabwean dollars, which could comfortably have bought a four-bedroom house. At the time of writing the ZCU had still not paid up for my World Cup appearance. And I do not expect them to.