Zimbabwe ignoring cricket's 'core values' - May

The international players' association has called for the ICC to consider more than playing form when assessing the Zimbabwe crisis at its meeting next month. Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA), said today that the ICC must investigate claims that Zimbabwe was ignoring cricket's "core values".

"It is the strong position of FICA and its member player-associations that the present Zimbabwean crisis is more than just a perceived dilution in the value of international cricket," said May in a statement. "The real issue, and the issue that the ICC executive board should give ultimate priority to, concerns the values of cricket."

He said that such values, including equality and integrity, were stated in the ICC's 2001-2005 Strategic Plan and endorsed by its ten Test-playing nations. "These are the matters that the ICC June meeting must discuss, investigate and determine," said May, the former Test offspinner who also heads the Australian Cricketers' Association. "The current dispute between the ZCU and 15 of its players has been highlighted with allegations of immoral and unethical behaviour and allegations of discrimination on [the basis of] colour and region. The ICC executive board must be compelled to thoroughly investigate these claims."

Australia is currently in the middle of three one-day matches against Zimbabwe after the Test series was scrapped due to the player dispute, which seriously weakened the Zimbabwean side. May said that the behaviour of players generally had been heavily scrutinised over the past few years, and this should extend to administrators.

"These values must equally apply to the governors of the game. FICA believes that should the ICC executive board fail to investigate these allegations, then apathy will permeate the player ranks, but more importantly, 15 brave and talented men who had the guts to stand up for their principles may be lost to the game of international cricket."

FICA had earlier been critical of the Australian board's decision to go ahead with the one-day series, arguing that the move had sealed the fate of the 15 rebel players, who were immediately sacked by the ZCU.