GERALD Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa, confirmed on Sunday that Zimbabwe will not be taking part in this season’s SuperSport Series. He confirmed this to the Times newspaper in South Africa.
The decision came after a CSA general council meeting was held on Friday. The meeting was called after several players expressed reservations over travelling to Zimbabwe. The Highveld Lions were to play a four-day match in Harare starting on October 28 but this was suspended pending the outcome of Friday’s meeting.
Majola did indicate that there would be further talks with Tony Irish, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) and that decisions regarding Zimbabwe’s participation had been put on hold.
“Instead of them playing in the SuperSport Series, we are looking at the possibility of Zimbabwe playing some four-day matches in South Africa against composite teams,” Majola said.
Zimbabwe may still feature in the domestic one-day competitions in South Africa. He also suggested that the objections from the SACA were cricket-based, over the extra fixtures and possible impact of Zimbabwe playing the competition, especially if the fixtures clashed with their international obligations.
With the other competitions – the MTN 45-over competition and the Standard Bank Pro20 in March – starting only next year, there is still a chance that Zimbabwe could play.
Majola dismissed suggestions there were moral objections to playing in Zimbabwe. “We leave politics to the politicians and the ICC,” he said. Majola re-affirmed that CSA would oblige with the request from the ICC to assist Zimbabwe
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News