Players call for Chingoka and Bvute to quit

A number of Zimbabwe players have signed a petition calling on Peter Chingoka, the board's chairman, and Ozias Bvute, the managing director, to resign, Cricinfo has reliably learnt.

It is said to contain a number of demands and was signed by 30 players, including captain Tatenda Taibu, who was reportedly the first to sign it. The move came as a result of ZC's announcement last Thursday that it was introducing performance-related contracts.

"The players signed a petition with a number of demands, chief among those demands was that Chingoka and Bvute must step down because they are the greatest failures in Zimbabwe cricket," one of the players said. "Thirty players signed it but it has not been handed over to Chingoka and Bvute as some of them are now worried about some of the things in the petition."

Chingoka and Bvute need to act swiftly and wisely if they are to defuse a rapidly deteriorating situation before next week's opening Test against India.