ICC 'concerned about issues in Zimbabwe'

Stuart Carlisle: 'I feel sorry for a lot of the young players' © Getty Images

Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, has admitted that he is worried about the situation inside Zimbabwe but that the ICC has been assured by Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe cricket's chairman, that its concerns will be addressed.

In an exclusive interview with Zimbabwe's Independent newspaper, Mani continued to stress the ICC's stance that this was fundamentally a domestic issue while admitting that the ICC would no longer remain totally on the sidelines.

"The ICC is clearly very concerned about a range of cricket issues in Zimbabwe," he said. "We recently met with Chingoka and outlined a series of outstanding concerns to him. In doing this it was also indicated that these concerns must be promptly and effectively addressed. Chingoka has committed to raising these concerns at the first board meeting of the new committee."

"The board of Zimbabwe Cricket had clearly become dysfunctional; the board was divided and meetings were not being held to discuss issues of genuine concern to its stakeholders due to a lack of quorum. While there is an inevitable link between sport and politics - the two areas are intertwined throughout the world - the operations of our member boards must be motivated by an overriding duty to serve the best interests of the sport. [Chingoka] is aware of the ICC's position in this respect."

With regards to the overtly racist comments made by the head of the Sports & Recreation Commission, the body that appointed the interim board headed by Chingoka and admitted to cleansing it of white and Asians, Mani was less forthcoming. "The ICC takes a very firm stance on the issue of racism on and off the field of play. For example, you will recall that when allegations of racism were raised by the Zimbabwe players in 2004 they were investigated by an independent dispute resolution tribunal. The concerns raised to Chingoka included a detailed discussion of the process through which the composition of the committee was determined. The ICC has made certain recommendations on the composition of the Interim Committee so that it includes stakeholders from all the communities in Zimbabwe. We await the response of the interim committee."

That interim committee remains a problem in that it is headed by Chingoka, the man the players and many stakeholders wanted removed over allegations that there was widespread financial mismanagement. "The ICC has called on the committee to deal with these allegations in a transparent and open manner," Mani argued. "Once this has been addressed, necessary action must also be taken to effectively deal with any issues that are identified."