ZIMBABWE cricket staff and players Thursday morning refused to hid interim managing director Vincent Hogg’s call on all employees to return to work on 1 August 2019 or risk legal or disciplinary consequences.
Only 10 players and seven staff members turned up for work, Hogg confirmed.
“Unfortunately not many came to work, about 8 or 10 players turned up and about six staff members showed up. About six (players) called to say they would not be able to make it,” Hogg told Zim Morning Post.
“It was a poor response. Our concern is for the welfare of the staff so mechanism are being put in place to ensure they are not affected.”
On the total number of players and employees the association has, Hogg said “perhaps 80. We have players and staff not only in Harare but in various places across the country and also outside the country.”
The ZC interim managing director had indicated that legal action would be taken against ZC employees who did not turn up for work or return the association’s equipment.
He, however, insisted that he would only be able to state a way forward in consultation with other stakeholders.
The Sports and Recreation Commission – a quasi-government commission—replaced the Tavengwa Mukuhlani suspended board with an interim committee last month, but the International Cricket Council viewed it as government interference, which is against the world body’s rules.
Earlier this week, a section of Zimbabwe cricket players and staff batting in the corner of the suspended ZC board labeled the SRC “power grabbers” daring Zimbabwe’s supreme sport governing body to do their worst, as they will never submit to an “illegitimate” interim administration.
The group poured cold water on ZC interim managing director Vincent Hogg’s press statement calling on all employees to return to work on 1 August 2019 or risk legal or disciplinary consequences.
“We found the statement condescending, reckless and inappropriate and we would like to make it very clear to Mr Hogg and the interim committee that appointed him that no amount of threats will cow us into submitting to an administration without legitimacy,” the players and staff said in a statement released through the suspended board’s mailing list.
“Our position is clearly informed by the fact that the International Cricket Council (ICC), the supreme custodian of the game of cricket, does not recognise the interim committee.”
“Besides, the interim committee – whose appointment led to Zimbabwe’s suspension by the ICC – has not only been insensitive to our plight as players and staff members but has also shown that the game and its future are not among its priorities,” the players and staff said.
Meanwhile, senior players such as Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza have publicly backed SRC’s move to suspend the ZC board.
The national game is now deeply divided creating to distinct camps— one fighting in the corner of the suspended board and the other in the SRC corner.
