Zimbabwe might not resume Tests in January

While few in the international community believe that Zimbabwe will be in a state to resume playing Test cricket when their self-imposed one-year suspension ends in January, until now the Zimbabwe board has bullishly maintained that they will be back.

But in an interview with the local Independent newspaper, Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwe Cricket's controversial managing director, gave the first indications that January might be too soon.

"We have a road map of intensive tours for both the senior and Zimbabwe A teams to gain exposure and experience," he told the paper. "We also have five standing squads formed on the basis of strength versus strength that will be playing against each other locally in between tours. Add to that all the activity in the 10 provinces, the school games and tertiary institutions programme we have initiated and you will see that we have the basis for continued growth and we will continue to re-evaluate ourselves to see if we are ready to resume Test cricket.

"We are under no illusion about our quality and capability hence the decision to suspend Test commitments," he continued. "Quality ... we have what it takes. Experience ... that is what we are looking for now in all these matches we are playing. It will not come easy but it has to come through performance and we appreciate that in the immediate future results may not come our way."

Critics are quick to point out that Zimbabwe's cause is hardly helped by the fact that last season the Logan Cup, the country's first-class competition, was shelved by the board. They also note that the provincial reorganisation has left the domestic set-up in chaos and claim it was only undertaken to ensure that the ruling board could not be toppled.

Bvute, unsurprisingly, looked to shift the blame for the side's form which has seen them lose their last 15 ODIs against Full Member countries. "We are mandated to run the game on behalf of the nation," he explained. "However, the issue of poor Zimbabwe performances should be seen in context. When we are saddled with a situation of a narrow selection base that does not allow for competitive selection for national assignments should we be held responsible for the actions of previous administrators who failed to ensure continued throughput because they ran the sport along elitist lines as a preserve of the few?"

Although Bvute was quick to blame previous administrators, that rather overlooks the fact that Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, has been in office for more than a decade. It is during his tenure that the mass exodus of players has taken place and that the fortunes of the national side have gone into freefall.

Bvute ended on an optimistic note, insisting: "Since taking over we are redressing the imbalance and are up to the challenge of ensuring that the future is bright."

Zimbabwe take on Bangladesh in five ODIs over the next ten days and much will depend on their performances in those as, aside from the preliminary round of the Champions Trophy, they have no more matches scheduled until December. If they can acquit themselves well against Bangladesh then perhaps Bvute's assertion that the future is bright might seem less hollow.