Kenya's Zimbabwe tour likely to be scrapped

Kenya's proposed tour of Zimbabwe is almost certain to be scrapped after Zimbabwe's cricketers refused to sign new contracts and said that they would not play for the national side until a number of issues had been resolved.

Kenya had been lined up for a short tour later this month during which three one-day internationals would have been played before both teams headed to Bangladesh for a triangular one-day series. But without any front-line players, Zimbabwe would be in no position to field a side against the Kenyans, who beat them in three matches in Harare last October.

Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe's coach, is said to have told his board that unless he has a squad available for training by the beginning of next week, then he will be in no position to prepare the side for the matches. A source close to the players told Cricinfo that a resolution to the crisis had become less likely in the last few days and that "things have gone backwards".

If Zimbabwe are unable to honour this commitment then it is sure to bring more pressure on the ICC to act. Last month, Zimbabwe suspended itself from Test cricket to enable it to rebuild and concentrate on one-day matches. If it cannot even raise a side to play those, then Peter Chingoka, the board's chairman, will face some very tough questions when the ICC meets in Dubai in March.