Senator David Coltart

Statement re Zimbabwe Cricket’s firing of Taibu and Streak

4th April 2018

It is a fact that the most successful countries and companies throughout the world are those which remember their heritage and draw on the wisdom of the past. In the modern era there is no better example of this than the one given by the relationship of Apple and Steve Jobs. Jobs started Apple but fell out with its Board; Apple then lost much of its ingenuity and the value of its shares plummeted. The Board brought Jobs back in and his creation of the iPad and iPhone are now legendary; despite Jobâ€™s death a few years ago Apple remains the wealthiest company on earth.

Zimbabwe Cricket was a powerful organisation in the late 1990s which punched well above its weight in the 1999 World Cup. However in 2004 a Zimbabwe Cricket Board dominated by corrupt and inefficient people, who were motivated by self interest and politics rather than the game, hounded out experienced players. The result was a catastrophic collapse of the game in Zimbabwe and the need for Zimbabwe to suspend itself from playing Test cricket. During my tenure as Minister of Sport between 2009 and 2013 Zimbabwe Cricket started its slow process of recovery. One of the things I then impressed on the Board was that we draw on the experience of retired Zimbabwean test players to both coach and select the national side. I felt that not only did we have some superb ex players but they were also people who loved their Nation deeply, so they would see their positions not as mere jobs, but rather their patriotic duty.

It was for that reason that I applauded the Zimbabwe Cricket Board when they appointed Tatenda Taibu and Heath Streak as Convenor of Selectors and Head Coach respectively. I do not think that it has been any coincidence that the performance of the national side has steadily improved since their appointment. Despite some periodic setbacks, such as the recent series against Afghanistan, the general improvement in the side was apparent to all cricket loving Zimbabweans â€“ something attested to by the fact that Zimbabweans fans returned in great numbers to support a passionate national side in the recent World Cup qualifiers.

Although like all Zimbabweans I was devastated by the recent failure to qualify for the World Cup I did not blame the players, coaching staff and selectors, because I saw other factors at play, particularly the appalling decision by the ICC to limit the World Cup to 10 teams, the shockingly poor standard of umpiring and their failure to allow DRS, which arguably lead to both Zimbabwe and Scotlandâ€™s elimination from the World Cup. Had DRS been operational and had there been umpiring of a better standard both Scotland and Zimbabwe would have qualified., at the expense of the West Indies and Afghanistan. It has been for that reason that all my ire since the World Cup qualifiers has been directed against the ICC.

But through it all I believed that a new cricketing spark has been ignited within Zimbabwe. Although I realised that the failure to qualify would place enormous financial strain on Zimbabwe Cricket I remained confident because of the belief that, unlike 2004 when we lost all our experience, we still now had a magnificent foundation to build on. We had a great pool of experienced players, some exciting youngsters coming through, a resurgence of fan interest and a coaching and selection team which enjoyed the confidence of the players. I knew that, despite our failure to qualify, if we could address the financial woes of Zimbabwe Cricket an exciting future still existed for the game in Zimbabwe.

It was in that context that I was almost numbed by disbelief when I heard that the Zimbabwe Cricket Board had resolved to fire the entire coaching staff and the selectors. It is one of the most absurd and damaging decisions made by any sports body ever in Zimbabweâ€™s history. As I have sought to understand why this has happened over the last few days it seems to me that the decision has been made for reasons completely disassociated from the interests of the game and rather from the personal interests of a few. Indeed it seems to me that this has been done to scapegoat the coaching staff and selectors to divert attention away from the grievous mismanagement of Zimbabwe Cricket by its Board.

It now seems clear to me that if anybody needs to be dismissed from their positions it is the Board members of Zimbabwe Cricket. Whilst I have been prepared to give credit where it has been due I have held deep reservations about the competence of successive Boards for many years. It is now clear to me that the current Board is just as bad as the previous Boards responsible for the near total destruction of Zimbabwe Cricket. I have listened closely to the views of many and I believe that the current Zimbabwe Cricket Board should be suspended by the Sports and Recreation Board in terms of section 30(c)(i) of the Sports and Recreation Commission Act (Chapter 25:15) for â€œconducting itself in a manner which is contrary to the national interestâ€, for the following reasons:

1. Failure to represent Zimbabweâ€™s interests before the ICC

The decision of the ICC to restrict the World Cup to 10 teams represents a failure by the Zimbabwe Cricket Board to adequately represent the interests of Zimbabwe Cricket before the ICC. A more competent and credible Board would have lobbied nations such as India more effectively to prevent this decision from happening. A more effective Board would have built coalitions with other nations to form an effective block to counter this decision. In contrast the Zimbabwe Board put up a pitiful fight and remained mute. The reality is that previous Boards and the current one are in such bad standing before the ICC, because of their incompetence and corruption, that they hold very little clout now before the ICC. This would not have been the case if the Board had been comprised of competent people with a strong track record in cricket administration and play.

2. Failure to ensure that the World Cup qualifier would be organized more efficiently and in accordance with current international standards.

The failure by the Zimbabwe Cricket Board to insist on the use of DRS, a panel of more experienced umpires and the provision of reserve days, constitutes a serious error on its part. The Board has criticized the selectors and coaching staff for the loss against UAE but the fact remains that had the Zimbabwe/UAE match been rained off Zimbabwe would still have failed to qualify â€“ and that would solely have been the Boardâ€™s fault. Likewise the Boardâ€™s failure to insist on better umpiring and DRS being used resulted in Zimbabweâ€™s narrow loss to the West Indies. Had Masakadza been able to contest his dismissal and had Raza not been given out in the manner he was Zimbabwe would have in all probability have won that match. It beggars belief that a Board with cricketing experience would have agreed to the conditions the Zimbabwe Cricket Board did as hosts of the World Cup qualifiers. Aside from anything else knowing as hosts the high probability or rain in Harare in February/ March the Board showed gross dereliction of duty in not insisting on reserve days.

3. Gross mismanagement of the financial and administrative affairs of Zimbabwe Cricket

A little known fact is that on the 27th February 2018, just 5 days before Zimbabweâ€™s opening match against Nepal, Zimbabwe Cricketâ€™s Head of Human Resources Nesta Vaki wrote to all staff, including the players to announce that due to â€œongoing cash flow challengesâ€ staff, including players , would only be paid 40% of their net salaries. A copy of that letter is attached on my Facebook profile. On receipt of this news Streak, convinced that it would undermine the morale of his players, urgently discussed the matter with the Zimbabwe Cricket CEO and the Chairman. Streak advised that he was prepared to take the cut himself but insisted that the players be paid. Eventually the Board relented and the players were paid. Streak however was only paid 40% of his salary.

When the ICC personnel released daily allowances in new US$100 bills cash to all the sides who qualified for the Super 6 round, the Zimbabwe team received their allowances by means of RTGS bank transfers into their bank accounts. When the players realised that all the other teams had been paid in US$100 bills they protested. ZC responded by paying them $450 each in old tatty US$ 5 bills. When some senior players and staff questioned this with ZC authorities they said the cash crisis was to blame, without explaining what had happened to the original US$100 bills paid to Zimbabwe Cricket by the ICC. It seems clear that the Zimbabwe Cricket management retained the new US$100 bills for themselves unlike the other teams who respected their players. This affected the morale of the team when they realised how they were treated in comparison to the other teams by their own Board.

The Zimbabwe team ran short of cricket balls to train with during the qualifiers and had to make plans to try and source balls through other channels to see them through. The coaching staff had to borrow balls from Ben Lever of the ICC because of the failure by the Board to supply them with this basic equipment.

Generous bonuses were â€œpromisedâ€ to the players and staff for qualification yet no figure was put in writing by the Board despite several efforts and requests to get this done. The coaching staff were advised that the CEO and Chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket were authorized to finalise the bonus. The CEO was asked prior to the Super 6 stage what was happening regarding the bonuses but was told that the Board would have to approve that issue, contradicting the earlier promises.

Before the injection of the $1.3 million by the ICC to run the qualifier tournament the last time ZC bought equipment for the ground preparation needs at Harare Sports Club and Queens, such as mowers and rollers, was in 2003 when the ICC injected money to then cohost the cricket World Cup. Due to gross incompetence some of the equipment purchased for the qualifiers could not be utilized because of the Boardâ€™s failure to pay for duty. In fact motorized super soppers, which could have helped the match against the UAE, were still sitting at customs in Beitbridge because of this incompetence. The excess water had to be slowly mopped up manually which in turn made for a more difficult Duckworth Lewis target. Given that Zimbabwe only fell short of the revised target against UAE by 4 runs this failure alone by the Board resulted in Zimbabweâ€™s failure to qualify.

For years now ZC have blamed their financial situation for all their shortfalls yet none of the successive Boards, including the current administration, in this time have taken any positive steps to rectify the situation. ZC receive millions from the ICC on a 7 year cycle while unions such as Scotland and UAE receive considerably less yet have arguably better structures in place. Ireland, now a test playing nation, still receives a quarter of the amount Zimbabwe cricket does per cycle yet their lowest paid contracted player is on Â£60000 per year in comparison to $16000 for junior nationally contracted Zimbabwe players, while coaching staff in other test and associate nations receive three to four times the remuneration of Zimbabweâ€™s high performance coaching team. In contrast many administrative officials in ZC receive salaries way in excess of what their counterparts in commerce in Zimbabwe receive. Indeed many administrative officials receive way in excess of some national players.

The internal administration of the cricket has all but broken down. It is a prerequisite of the ICC for members to play 1st Class, List A and T20 competitions to get ICC disbursements. Zimbabwe Cricket has not organized any T20 competition for 2 years and this season none of our 3 competitions, including the Logan Cup, will be completed. Aside from the devastating impact that has on the standard of play in Zimbabwe it further risks the loss of ICC funds.

Support for schools and cricket development has all but dried up. Schools such as Milton, Prince Edward and Churchill, which used to receive substantial support from ZC, have seen that support dwindle. If it were not for the growing passion for the game amongst the public cricket would in fact be a dying game in Zimbabwe., because of the current Boardâ€™s failure to invest in the future.

It seems as if Zimbabwe Cricket is now facing worse financial turmoil than ever before. The national players have recently been told by management that they will not receive their salaries for March. In the same communication they have been told that the Board is â€œtrying to raise fundingâ€ and they are hopeful that the crisis may â€œease in Juneâ€. Clearly there is need for an urgent audit to be conducted by the SRC to establish what the actual financial state of Zimbabwe Cricket is.

4. None of the current Zimbabwe Cricket Board have played 1st class cricket.

Many of the poor decisions taken by the Board stem from the fact that the Board members themselves have never played cricket at any high level and so they lack a fundamental understanding of the game. This is demonstrated in their decision to fire the entire coaching staff in one fell swoop. That is unprecedented amongst test playing nations throughout the world and would be unthinkable in most nations. It shows that the Board itself has no understanding of the personal relationships built up between players and coaching team and of the devastating impact this has on players.

This lack of understanding of the game is also demonstrated in the Boardâ€™s failure to insist on DRS and reserve days for the qualifying tournament. The Boardâ€™s apparent failure to complain about the shockingly poor standard of umpiring throughout the qualifying tournament is also indicative of an administration that simply doesnâ€™t understand the game.

The Boardâ€™s failure to understand how the dismissal of Streak and Taibu has affected playersâ€™ morale is a further indication of how little they understand the game. The players have great confidence in these two Zimbabweans patriots because they know they have deep rooted experience of the unique pressures of the modern game of cricket and what it means to play for Zimbabwe. This element is simply lost on a Board which doesnâ€™t have this experience.

5. The current Board clearly does not enjoy the support of sponsors

It remains a harsh reality that the current Board is held in such low regard by the business community in Zimbabwe and internationally that it has failed to obtain a single sponsor to inject cash into the system. For all the hoopla around PPC sponsorship the fact remains that none of that sponsorship will come in cash but rather in the construction of concrete nets. A local company that was allegedly prepared to invest some US$125,000 before the qualifiers had not heard back from the Board prior to the qualifiers so that potential sponsorship has been lost.

6. The current system of election to the Board is opaque and excludes minorities

One of the reasons why the Board is comprised of people who have little passion for, or experience of, cricket is because of the opaque system for election to the Board which perpetuates the tenure of a clique who are driven by self interest, rather than national interest. The Government needs to review Zimbabwe Cricketâ€™s constitution to ensure that any new Board is comprised of people of all races who have a demonstrable experience either in playing cricket or the administration of cricket.

7. The current decision of the Board to sack Streak and Taibu may irreparably damage cricket in Zimbabwe

What is not in the public domain is the fact that the entire current national team opposes the decision taken by the Board. I have it on exceptionally good and reliable authority that the team is appalled by this decision. We are now in grave danger not only of undermining the morale of the current crop of national players but also of losing some of our key players. If this decision results in a similar loss of experience as happened in 2004 Zimbabwe cricket may never recover and we may go the same way Kenya went and become just another second-class cricketing nation. The resultant loss of income, national profile and national pride will be completely against our national interest. Conversely if cricket grows as it should it will be the source of foreign exchange and a livelihood for thousands in the years to come. Our economy cannot afford the collapse of yet another once vibrant sector.

Conclusion

This statement has been prepared using evidence supplied to me by a wide range of sources, which span both players and coaches and include the entire racial spectrum. I have cross-referenced the information I have received from individuals with others to ensure that it is accurate. Reports received from different sources have corroborated each other and accordingly I am satisfied that what I have been told is accurate. The reason the information has been shared with me is because both players and coaching staff do not feel they are being heard by anyone else.

As can be shown above there are numerous and adequate grounds for the SRC Board to suspend the entire Zimbabwe Cricket Board as a matter of urgency. It will then be up to the Minister of Sport to act in terms of section 30(2) of the SRC Act to appoint a committee to administer the affairs of Zimbabwe Cricket pending the rewriting of its constitution and the election of a new Board which will efficiently take Zimbabwe Cricket forward.

President Mnangagwa has stated often since taking office that he wants to see the growth of the Zimbabwean economy and all sectors of society. If Zimbabwe Cricket is allowed to collapse during his watch it will be a severe indictment against his administration. I hope that the SRC Board and the Minister of Sport will accordingly act quickly and diligently to rectify this disastrous situation.

Senator David Coltart

Former Minister of Sport â€“ Zimbabwe â€“ 2009 â€“ 2013

Bulawayo 4th April 2018

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