Zimbabwe AGM show and not substance

Zimbabwe Cricket held its invitation-only AGM on Saturday and, as expected, there was no discontent and little of substance was discussed. As Cricinfo reported last week, only hand-picked provincial administrators were allowed to attend with players, stakeholders and even life appointees of the board barred.

A bland report in a local newspaper was all that was published about the meeting, and not even the board's official website carried a mention. The newspaper said that "such pertinent issues as the organisation's finances and setting up of a new selection committee were not concluded".

Given that the board's finances have been the subject of major criticism for several years and that they are the subject of an independent forensic audit demanded by the ICC, that nothing appears to have been discussed is a good indication of the credibility of the AGM.

Lovemore Banda, ZC's media manager, said: "The AGM agreed to defer the presentation of the financial statements for the period under review to a later date, as the statements still have to be tabled before the ZC finance committee and then presented to the full board before being taken to the ICC." Critics point out that the board amended its financial year in 2006 so that it covers 20 months, thus adding more to the general unease and confusion.

The newspaper did state that Herbert Mupfumira had been co-opted into the board in place of Brian Mugota.