Zimbabwe in trouble

While the West Indies were enjoying a day off taking in Africa's bountiful wildlife on a tour of a game park outside Harare, India did them a favour at the Queen's Club yesterday.

Their hard-fought victory over Zimbabwe, with four wickets and only four balls to spare, ensured their place in the final of the triangular Coca-Cola Cup series and all but guaranteed that the West Indies would be their opponents come July 7.

Zimbabwe's third successive defeat left their hopes of still qualifying resting on an unlikely sequence of events and further compounded the problems they have faced over the past week, on and off the field.

The West Indies would have to lose their two remaining matches against India on Saturday and Wednesday and the other against Zimbabwe here on Sunday to be level on two points with the home team.

The finalists would then be determined on run-rate, and Zimbabwe would need a massive victory on Sunday to erase what is now a considerable deficit.

Zimbabwean cricket is going through difficult times at present.

The euphoria of an admirable victory over India in the second Test nine days ago to square the series has quickly evaporated through a protest by senior players against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union's (ZCU) selection policy and injuries that have sidelined Andy Flower and Heath Streak, their two finest players.

Streak stepped down as captain prior to the opening match against the West Indies last Saturday because he was upset that his opinions were not being respected by a selection panel of six that did not include either him or the coach, the former Australian fast bowler, Carl Rackemann.

An accommodation was reached after an animated meeting between the parties that added captain and coach to the panel, increasing it to an unwieldy eight.

There have also been squabbles over pay levels, notably in England last year, that led to the emigration of two key players, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson, to English county cricket. These have not yet been adequately solved, as the Zimbabwean dollar continues its plunge in value and the game becomes more expensive to run.

As in South Africa, the debate over the pace of selection purely on merit against that based on the encouragement of the emerging black cricketers the so-called affirmative action has also tended to divide players and administrators.

Peter Chingkoka, the respected and very able black Zimbabwean who heads the ZCU, has to lead with all the tact of a Kofi Annan to keep matters on an even keel. The recent defeats would not have helped. With a pool of no more than 300 players to chose from, Zimbabwe have done well to hold their own at Test and One-Day International level.

But the game was previously restricted to the minority white and Asian populations and these are now dwindling through emigration in the wake of political, social and economic turmoil.

Development programmes aimed at carrying the game to the majority black population have been in place for some time and more black players have made their way into the Zimbabwe team than into South Africa's since 1992 when they both gained Test status, South Africa for the second time.

Several have come through the well-appointed academy and have benefited from the excellent facilties in the main centres. Five of the Zimbabwe A team in the practice match against the West Indies on Tuesday were black.

Henry Olonga, the personable, articulate and successful fast bowler, was Zimbabwe's first real black star cricketer. But he has drifted out of the limelight through injury. In Tatenda Taibu, the tiny, livewire, 18-year-old wicket-keeper, they have an obvious personality who should be a role model and inspiration for the hundreds of those young schoolchildren now being introduced to the game.

But what Zimbabwe cricket needs most of all right now is more consistent success on the field and patience, unity and understanding off it. The two are intertwined.