It is looking as if Zimbabwe is about to lose its Full Membership of the ICC.
As many of you know, cricket was traditionally the game of white Rhodesians. They were English speakers - unlike other Southern African whites like AB De Villiers or FAF du Plessis, and there were about 300,000 of them in Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe in 1980.
Unfortunately, years of land expropriations and violence have led to 90% of the white population of Zimbabwe leaving, in contrast with South Africa where over 90% of whites have remained since democracy arrived. In cricketing terms, Zimbabwe managed until the early 2000's but are now weaker than most Australian local grade teams.
Worse than that, in 2007 the ICC commissioned and released a report which showed massive financial irregularities at Zimbabwe Cricket, with misuse of large amounts of ICC funds - a pattern which was to be repeated to the tune of $6 million in 2014. But the BCCI vetoed any action being taken against Zimbabwe Cricket.
It appears to those of us on the outside that up until now, Zimbabwe Cricket has been protected by certain Boards at the ICC to effectively provide them with an additional vote.
But it also appears - perhaps due to the failure to prevent reform of the Big Three model - that Zimbabwe Cricket has outlived its usefulness, and what was previously seen as a cheap source of an additional vote may now be viewed as a waste of money which could be directed elsewhere.
Either way, the ICC has now announced its intention that Full Member status will be reviewed every five years, and according to the quality of a Board's governance.
Which makes it very hard to see how Zimbabwe Cricket can survive.
As many of you know, cricket was traditionally the game of white Rhodesians. They were English speakers - unlike other Southern African whites like AB De Villiers or FAF du Plessis, and there were about 300,000 of them in Rhodesia, which became Zimbabwe in 1980.
Unfortunately, years of land expropriations and violence have led to 90% of the white population of Zimbabwe leaving, in contrast with South Africa where over 90% of whites have remained since democracy arrived. In cricketing terms, Zimbabwe managed until the early 2000's but are now weaker than most Australian local grade teams.
Worse than that, in 2007 the ICC commissioned and released a report which showed massive financial irregularities at Zimbabwe Cricket, with misuse of large amounts of ICC funds - a pattern which was to be repeated to the tune of $6 million in 2014. But the BCCI vetoed any action being taken against Zimbabwe Cricket.
It appears to those of us on the outside that up until now, Zimbabwe Cricket has been protected by certain Boards at the ICC to effectively provide them with an additional vote.
But it also appears - perhaps due to the failure to prevent reform of the Big Three model - that Zimbabwe Cricket has outlived its usefulness, and what was previously seen as a cheap source of an additional vote may now be viewed as a waste of money which could be directed elsewhere.
Either way, the ICC has now announced its intention that Full Member status will be reviewed every five years, and according to the quality of a Board's governance.
Which makes it very hard to see how Zimbabwe Cricket can survive.
