HARARE - The decision by the Zimbabwe Cricket board to appoint Elton Chigumbura as skipper ahead of vice captain, Hamilton Masakadza, following Prosper Utseyas resignation last week, may have left some people in the cricket fraternity smelling a rat. As an experienced skipper who has been Utseyas assistant for the past four years, it was expected Masakadza was going to be appointed as captain. Requesting anonymity, an active member of the cricket family who felt the position of skipper was going to be a heavy load on Chigumbura, suspected it was a deliberate move by some members of the board calculated to bring Greg Lamp into the picture soon.
El-T (Chigumbura) is a performer not a leader; he has already got a lot on his hands. He is one of the players expected to deliver in each game, soon he will be playing County Cricket in England and he is given another task on top of that. Why would they appoint him ahead of Hamy (Masakadza) who has been vice captain for almost four years now? he questioned.
He suspected the move to have been made by some to demote Chigumbura as a failure soon to replace him with Lamp.
When The Zimbabwean contacted ZC for a comment on these allegations, Managing Director, Ozias Bvute, responded.
As ZC we are not inclined to confirm or deny allegations or conspiracy theories. Our structures at ZC are devoid of color and the decisions we make are based on the constitutional power given to the ZC Board and ultimately what is best for cricket in Zimbabwe.
Should tomorrow or in the future, the need arise for a new captain to be selected, a similar process will be engaged and all suitable candidates, regardless of race will be considered. It is our desire that the Zimbabwe National team is representative of the people from all across Zimbabwe regardless of color or background and it is unfortunate that there are those who continuously seek to break things down into a black and white issue.
Post published in: Cricket