West Indies cancel Zimbabwe cricket tour over security concerns

By Lance Guma
29 June 2007

Within hours of a damning report on Zimbabwe Cricket being leaked by the BBC, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), made a decision to cancel their scheduled tour of Zimbabwe. The International Cricket Council tabled a devastating report on the operations of Zimbabwe Cricket claiming that accounts in the last two years have been falsified to mask gross financial irregularities. The report was distributed among delegates attending the ICC meeting in London and documented various other problems besetting cricket in the country.
Although the WICB said it would issue its reasons later, leading cricket website Cric Info says the West Indies were failing to raise a team after the players association advised its members of serious security concerns. The team was due to land in Harare on 1st July and play the first four-day match on the 4th but reports say they were struggling to even name a captain for the tour.
Bruce Aanensen the WICB Chief Executive wrote a letter advising the Zimbabwe board that the tour had been called off. ‘I regret to advise that in spite of our best efforts and your unstinting support, we are now advised by the CARICOM (Caribbean Community and Common Market) Secretariat that after careful consideration of a wide range of views they regretfully have to change their position and advise the WICB that the tour should not take place," he said. The decision was apparently guided by the wishes of the heads of government in the Caribbean community.
Prior to this development there had been a North-South divide in terms of cricket politics with countries like Australia, England either boycotting or considering doing so, while others like India, Pakistan and the West Indies were not too keen to shun Zimbabwe. For the West Indies to make such a decision now, robs Mugabe’s regime of its usual excuse that the problems in cricket were mainly racial.

The Zimbabwe team will however remain in camp, according to media manager Lovemore Banda, because of a planned tour of South Africa at the end of July. He is also quoted as saying, ‘We will also continue talking to other boards about A tours as part of our on-going programme to expose our young side to top-level three or four-day cricket.’ South Africa has in the past offered to host Zimbabwe’s cricket team and provide them a neutral venue should any of the other national cricket sides refuse to tour. Authorities in Zimbabwe have however declined the offer.