Up to 12 Zimbabwe players 'sacked'

The crisis threatening Zimbabwe's cricketing future took a depressing twist late last night when a senior official of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) told reporters that he had sacked up to a dozen white players.

The group understood that they had been given permission by Vince Hogg, the ZCU's chief executive, to miss this weekend's round of domestic matches so that they could try and find a solution to the dispute between players and the board which followed Heath Streak's removal as captain. But Ozias Bvute - the ZCU board member in charge of racial quotas - sent them all messages saying that that he had dismissed them for not turning up to play.

The news came as a particular blow to Hogg, who had been working tirelessly in recent days to try and broker a compromise which would stave off the planned mass resignation of leading players that we first revealed last week. But Bvute's unilateral action undermined not only those attempts, but also Hogg's authority to act on behalf of the board.

Those who now control the board are clearly at odds with the bulk of the players - and a number of its own officials. The faction hell-bent on implementing the wishes of the Mugabe government have won the internal battle and now control the ZCU.

Streak himself called on the ICC to intervene, requesting it to "come here and investigate the grave situation at all levels of the game". He added that he was happy to continue as a player under Tatenda Taibu, but only if his demands regarding the selectors - which triggered this whole situation - were met. "Unless they are, " he said, "I will not play for Zimbabwe again." Given that the board is now openly hostile to the bulk of the team - and Streak in particular - there is almost no chance of it backing down over selection.

Former Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin, who quit the country a while back and now plays for Sussex, said that he had spoken with "some of the players and they are not happy with the situation." He continued: "There isn't enough depth in Zimbabwe cricket to cope with the loss of 14 players and still compete effectively at international level."

Zimbabwe's Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka is due to start in less than a fortnight. Unless there is a dramatic change of policy, there is every chance that the Zimbabwe side which takes the field will contain no white cricketers, and, more to the point, will be so weak as to be embarrassing.