Cricket contract wrangles continue

By Lance Guma
06 September 2005

Zimbabwe Cricket needed a hastily arranged press conference Monday to try and counter rumours of a looming player strike over contracts. The move did not do much to end the speculation.

Instead the opposite is happening with reports of simmering discontent amongst the players who are clearly not happy with the new performance based contracts.

Officials even tried to hide behind the line that negotiations were still ongoing and that any player who is not happy with the offer is free to walk away. A reporter who was at Harare Sports Club, the headquarters of Zimbabwe Cricket said the crisis is far from over.

He predicted a strike by the 27 players who were offered Level 1 performance based contracts.

While captain Tatenda Taibu, Heath Streak and all rounder Andy Blignaut were offered national contracts that are significantly better remunerated, the rest of the players were not so lucky.

The Zimbabwe Professional Cricketers Association denied any news of an impending strike. Mluleki Nkala, spokesman for the group said they were negotiating the basic salary needs of the players before the performance issues were put in.