Streak resignation could spark player exodus

Cricket in Zimbabwe is lurching towards a crisis following the resignation of Heath Streak as national captain.

Streak has done much to keep Zimbabwe's fragmenting cricket team together in the last two or three years against a backdrop of escalating political chaos in the country. His removal as captain followed a meeting in which he demanded a streamlining of the national selectors - he also wanted them to be former players. The board rejected the plan out of hand and he resigned.

Streak believed that a joint announcement to that effect would follow, but instead the board hurriedly issued a media release, adding for good measure - and seemingly with little reason - that he had quit "from all forms of cricket", effectively saying that he would not be picked again. In one terse statement the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) jettisoned a captain and the country's best cricketer.

But if the ZCU hoped that the immediate appointment of Tatenda Taibu would be the end of the matter, it seems that it might have misread the strength of feeling for Streak among his former team-mates.

It appears that at least two or three of the side are considering their positions, with one senior player telling friends that he is ready to announce his own retirement as a result of the board's action. Streak was the binding force which kept them together and protected them from the excesses of the regime and the increasing politicisation of the ZCU. Without him, the deck of cards is looking mighty unsteady.

Zimbabwe has always punched way above its weight on the world stage. It has a very small pool of talent to pick from, and the loss of several high-profile cricketers in the last year or two has left it struggling to find enough decent players. Streak's absence will weaken the middle-order batting and leave the bowling attack bereft of any cutting edge. All it would take is for a couple more of the better players to step down and Zimbabwe would be left with a shell of side which even Bangladesh would relish taking on.

The irony is that Robert Mugabe has used the nation's cricket side as a symbol that all is well within Zimbabwe. And now, as a result of the increasing influence of the government in the day-to-day affairs of the ZCU, that side is in danger of becoming an international embarrassment. At least in that respect it does represent him.

Perhaps England are worrying unnecessarily about October's tour. The sad reality is that by then, Zimbabwe might not be able to field a side.