Pay dispute return to haunt Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Cricket and its squad for the ICC World Twenty20 are again at loggerheads over the way that the board is proposing to pay the players.

Sources close to both camps claim that the board is proposing to make match fee and bonus payments in Zimbabwean dollars, but with inflation at 7600% the local currency is now all but valueless.

This row is reminiscent of what happened before the World Cup when the players, who no-longer have effective representation, were deterred by threats of blanket bans from the national team and also forfeiting their match fees from the tournament unless they complied. In the end, it is understood that they were paid in US dollars, although they had to wait almost three months for their money.

ICC communications officer James Fitzgerald, told the the Zimbabwe Times that each participating team is guaranteed US$250,000, even without striking a ball. This means a team like Zimbabwe, rank outsiders in a pool comprising heavyweights Australia and England, are entitled to the windfall, even if they fail to reach the next stage of the two-week competition. Furthermore, ZC could receive as much as US$11 million from the World Cup.

The board is likely to cite local forex regulations which prohibit any payments being made in foreign currencies, even though this is increasingly flouted as local money becomes utterly useless. ZC itself has been fined on more than one occasion for breaches of the regulations.

A source close to the players revealed that they were unmoved and were pressing ahead with plans to escalate the row.