Rebel cricketers given Wednesday deadline

Zimbabwe's rebel cricketers have been given until Wednesday, July 21, to agree to the International Cricket Council's plan for arbitration in their dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, reports AFP. Chris Venturas, the players' legal representative, is quoted as saying, "We've been given until Wednesday 5pm (1600GMT) to make a decision about arbitration."

Venturas's comments came after he met with Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, in London on July 16. "I'll be recommending we go for it. But I don't know yet what they [the players] are going to say about it," said Venturas. Earlier, the ZCU agreed to the ICC's proposal that recommended the issue be sorted out by a three-man arbitration panel in Zimbabwe.

The ZCU would nominate one man to the panel, the players another and the third would be chosen by mutual agreement. Most of the rebel cricketers are in England at the moment, as part of a fund-raising tour to raise money for the Zimbabwe Cricketers' Fund and the Zimbabwe Pensioners' Fund.

Venturas has said that arbitration is what the players wanted all along. "As I explained to Malcolm (Speed), this is what we had been asking for but we were stonewalled by the ZCU. For arbitration to work it needs the consent of both parties."

The ball is now in the players' court and Venturas was hopeful all parties would be closer to a solution at the end of this process. "A lot of things have happened in the last two months and the players have moved on. They need to think about it [arbitration]. I hope they do agree because I think arbitration is in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket." The players had earlier requested a month more to think about the point of arbitration, but the ICC denied this request, pressing upon them the need to fast-track a solution.