Zimbabwe continue to stall over Kenya series

Attempts to finalise a tour of Kenya by Zimbabwe continue to stall because of claims by Zimbabwe Cricket that their itinerary is too busy to allow them to fit in with dates offered by the Kenyans.

A source inside Zimbabwe Cricket told Cricinfo that while Cricket Kenya had offered two alternatives for a one-day series in Nairobi and Mombasa, the Zimbabwe board had countered that the only time they had free was a small window in late October, at the same time the Kenyans are hosting Ireland in the Intercontinental Cup and then a one-day series.

It is possible that the Ireland series could be replaced with a triangular tournament including Zimbabwe, but that could throw up political issues in asking Ireland to take the field against Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe have not played an international match since February, when they were whitewashed in a five ODI series. They have repeatedly put obstacles in the way of playing Kenya away from home, much to the frustration of both Cricket Kenya and, increasingly, the ICC, who have put Zimbabwe Cricket under increasing pressure to play the lower-ranked Test countries as well as the leading Associates.

Zimbabwe's schedule is hardly packed. They are down to play one-day series with Sri Lanka at home and away during the next year, and they are also hosting a Pakistan Academy side next month. Last season they played a large number of matches in South Africa's domestic competitions, but with relations between ZC and Cricket South Africa now frozen, there appear to be big gaps in their itinerary.

"It's as much about not wanting to be seen losing to Kenya than anything else," the ZC source told Cricinfo. "It would be easy to arrange the tour if the will was there. The players want to play. It's the administrators who are running scared as they worry that a defeat by them [Kenya] would make people inside the ICC sit up and start asking more questions about funding."