Sean Williams's future far from certain

Colin Williams, the father of Zimbabwe's Under-19 captain Sean, has vowed that his son will not sign a contract with Zimbabwe Cricket.

Williams senior claimed that ZC had tried to persuade his son to agree to a contract, but he was very against the idea. "I have told him that I don't want him to play cricket in Zimbabwe anymore," he explained. "We do not have a first-class structure here. I want him to go to South Africa or England where they have proper structures.

"ZC is promising them all this money, which seem like large sums but the question is for how long are they going to get that money?"

According to Williams senior, Zimbabwe Cricket is taking advantage of the fact that his son is a youngster who is immature and cannot make decisions on his own. "They are using Kevin Curran to approach these players," Williams claimed. "My son has chosen cricket as a career but I have told him that Zimbabwe Cricket is not the way forward for him. I am advising him to go away and play cricket overseas, try and qualify to play for another country, if he does not want to play for another country, he can still come back when the situation gets back to normal in Zimbabwe.

"I used to pick up Sean from Falcon College to play cricket for Bulawayo Athletic every weekend, I feel I have done enough as a parent make sure my son gets to the top."

Colin Williams clashed with Zimbabwe Cricket last year after he claimed that it sent his son to attend Under-19 trials in Harare on public transport. He pulled him out of the commuter bus, phoned Ozias Bvute, the ZC managing director, and told him that unless he organised decent transport, Sean would not attend the trials. The board subsequently paid for him to fly to Harare.

The row has left Sean Williams uncertain about his next move. "I am so confused now, I have not yet seen my contract, I can only make a decision after I have seen my contract and that is going to be my own decision."

He has not played in the one-day series against Kenya, but that was because he returned from the World Cup in Sri Lanka with a painful boil on his elbow which had to be lanced.

The older Williams was also critical of the board's controversial AGM in Bulwayo last September where he described the atmosphere as "hostile". He said that during the meeting "it seemed that everything had been pre-set. People weren't allowed to ask as many questions as they wished. We have heard so many rumours and that was the chance for us to know whether they was any truth in them or not ... but we never got that opportunity."