The truth about Zimbabwe's tour problems

THE BITTER truth of it is this: I'm in deep dwang with the Zimbabwean cricket authorities.

Those who read the Sunday Mirror this week will understand exactly why. I have exposed the way the poor guys have been forced to live on this tour. And they didn't want the story published.

And all that stuff about the tour nearly being called off last week was more than just depression over a big defeat against Kent in Canterbury. Or worry about what is going on at home with the farm squatters.

Behind the scenes, the players were revolting. And they can deny it all they like, but the truth is: The tour was in jeopardy until the Zimbabwe Cricket Union stepped in with promises to review the situation.

It all started in the West Indies, where Zimbabwe grafted without luck for two months and earned the princely sum of £1,000 for their troubles.

Then, after living like paupers in the Caribbean (where they had a beer sponsor, which made life vaguely acceptable) they found they were even worse off in England where the pound has become something of a financial ogre.

Then they discovered the bus driver hired to ferry them around England was the best paid member of the tour party.

But as Neil Johnson, their talented all-rounder told me: "It's not the Union's fault the dollar has devalued so much. When I was here with Leicestershire you could get 17 or 18 dollars to the pound, now you're lucky to get 63. It makes things very difficult for us."

Very difficult indeed. And they certainly aren't living like international sports stars for their three month stint in England.

My investigations revealed:

1: The average Zimbabwean cricketer earns between £5,000-10,000 a year while an English Test player commands a salary of between £60,000 and £120,000 (made up of a national contract plus county salary and endorsements). The bus driver? He's on about £14,000 while the average club professional commands up to £8,000 for half a year's work in England.

2: Some of the players brought their own biltong (dried meat), canned food and noodles with them from Zimbabwe to avoid the high cost of meals in Britain.

3: They were using phone cards to call home, where many had family being threatened in the current farm-squatting controversy, rather than using the hotel phones.

4: The squad rarely goes out except when they are invited to free, sponsored evenings, as they can't afford to eat out or go to the cinema at English prices.

5: Paul Strang, axed by Zimbabwe, is earning far more than his Test colleagues are earning this summer - for playing club cricket for Haslingdon in Lancashire.

6: The West Indies camp were so worried by the Zimbabwean morale in the Caribbean last month that they suggested the formation of an action group to "sort it" when they got to England.

7: The squad are surviving on a £45-per-day meal allowance from the ECB.

One Zimbabwean player, who has now been threatened with disciplinary action for breaking their silence over the issue, told me: "We were excited to come here but it does make it difficult when you're competing against guys who are being paid so much more than us.

"You're proud to represent your country but you also want to be remunerated in the right way.

"Even though we're not as good as everyone else, we want to be up there. I'm not having a go at our Union - but we have a real problem in Zimbabwe, where the dollar has devalued so rapidly.

"Right now, our money is worth nothing in pounds sterling.

"What we earn in terms of pounds is terrible. It sounds okay in Zimbabwe dollars but it's really worthless.

"We get £45-a-day as a meal allowance from the ECB and none of the guys want to spend it because it is foreign currency, which we can't get in Zimbabwe.

"We come over here and some of us bring over our two-minute noodles, our tuna, and we keep our bread from breakfast in the hotel.

You'll see a lot of Biltong (dried meat) in our bags, noodles, lots of biscuits. I don't think you'll see England players going on tour with things like that in their kit!

"It doesn't harm our motivation - we're striving all the time to get better sponsors but sometimes it makes it difficult to compete. It's like Manchester United against Watford.

"You see all the other guys with their designer gear, and their fast cars. Even your second team county players. And we know we're better players than they are. It's just not fair.

"Our bus driver earns more than all of us. We've found out he's the highest paid player in our squad!

"Most of the boys hardly have anything on their hotel bill when we move to the next game. We use telephone cards because we can't afford to use the phones in our rooms.

"I think international cricketers should be allowed to pick up the phone whenever they want."

The Sunday Mirror believes the Zimbabweans are actually paid LESS by the ZCU than they get in meal allowances from the ECB. They earned just £1,000 for their two months in West Indies and by the time they return home after five months of travelling, the lesser players will have received less than £3,000.

Our source added: "Look at what your worst paid, c-grade cricketer gets here and our guys are nowhere near that.

"Some of our boys playing League cricket, the boys who couldn't make the Zimbabwe team, are earning a lot more than us playing for your clubs.

"One of our guys, dropped from the squad, is making a hell of a lot more. He's playing once a week. We're here for three months playing nearly every day in Test matches, county games and one-dayers.

"I had an offer from a club to play this summer and I would have earned far more money doing that. But you can't turn down the chance of playing Test cricket at Lord's.

"The innings defeat against Kent a week ago was TOTALLY down to what is going on here. It was right in the middle of all the trouble. We got here, and we started discussing how we were living.

"After the first match of the tour in Hampshire, we flew Andrew Whittall, our players representative, over from Zimbabwe.

"We had meetings every day, and deep into the night. Then two board members- Peter Chingoka, the ZCU president, and David Ellman-Brown, the Chief Executive - arrived. They diverted to Canterbury on Monday, May 1, on their way to the ICC meeting at Lord's.

"We explained that the guys are not happy with their lot. We said we had had enough of living like that.

"Funnily enough it was the West Indians who sparked all this off.

"He said they'd had the same problems in South Africa, before they were whitewashed 5-0. He said he could sense it in the Zimbabwe team.

"We have now formed a committee to look into how we are remunerated in various countries.

"Obviously somewhere like Sri Lanka is not as bad as England or the West Indies.

"But there was a moment last week when the tour was in jeopardy. The board are not going to like this, but it's true.

"The board is doing everything they can to put things right. Our country is in a difficult situation at present - they're doing the best they can for us.

"Now we have to get down to the cricket.

"We didn't do that badly in the West Indies. We ran them close in two Tests. It hurt to lose when we were chasing less than a hundred to win in the first Test.

"But despite all the problems, the boys want to prove we can play.

"We want to send some good news back home."

(Neal Collins is assistant sports editor for the Sunday Mirror.)