Zimbabwe's return to the Test arena is merited, writes Somerset batsman Nick Compton in the Guardian, but the hard work will have to continue if the most is going to be made of the country's cricketing potential and fruitful communication between the Board and the players is crucial. Compton, who has a significant connection to the country through his mother, spent last winter playing for the Mashonaland Eagles franchise in Zimbabwe.

For me, it's simple: ZC needs to regain respect as a board. It needs to include players in the decision-making processes. It's the players who will determine the strength of Zimbabwean cricket and if the board expects the team to show commitment, unity and a strong work ethic, it needs to be the first to display those qualities. The administrators need to back the players and give them the respect they deserve.

Zimbabwe have not played a Test match since September 2005, but are poised to return to the five-day game in August this year. In the Daily Telegraph, Scyld Berry excoriates this development, saying Zimbabwe simply do not have the players to succeed at the highest level.

Common sense suggests that Zimbabwe should be given a prolonged course of four-day first-class cricket: of ‘A’ tours by concerned countries, and playing abroad, for example in the West Indian domestic first-class competition, as the England Lions are.

Only when Zimbabwe’s batsmen have learned to play long innings against real pace and spin, and only when they have unearthed some speed of their own, should they return to Test cricket.

But that, of course, is not how cricket politics work. Officially, Zimbabwe withdrew from Test cricket in 2006 of their own volition — the ICC did not suspend them — and to Test cricket they will voluntarily return after this World Cup.

Despite the gradual integration of Zimbabwe in the cricketing mainstream and the return of former players taking up coaching roles, there are still serious problems with governance, writes Simon Briggs in the Daily Telegraph.

And yet, despite all these improvements, the people at the top of Zimbabwe cricket have not changed. In this respect, at least, cricket really is a microcosm of Zimbabwe, for the sport is still governed by Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, a pair of deeply discredited plutocrats who have been accused of embezzling International Cricket Council money.

The question we should really be asking is cui bono – who benefits – from Zimbabwe’s resurrection as a cricket power?

Grant Flower, Zimbabwe's most capped Test player, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, saying he wants to concentrate on coaching. zimcricket.org interviews him about everything from his best phase in cricket to how the game can be improved in Zimbabwe, and discovers the one bowler he could never read was Muttiah Muralitharan.

Predictably, Grant feels that the greatest individual performance of his long career – he made his first-class debut in March 1990 – was his double-century against Pakistan in 1995, which included a partnership of 269 with his brother Andy. On the first morning at Harare Sports Club the Pakistan bowlers, spearheaded by Wasim Akram, were almost making the ball talk and reduced Zimbabwe’s top order to 42 for three. But Grant hung in there until he was joined by his brother Andy, who started to counter-attack as the ball lost its shine. Andy made 156, while Grant was still there when the declaration came at 544 for four, having scored 201 in almost eleven hours. This paved the way for Zimbabwe’s magnificent innings victory.

Neil Manthorp, in the Mail and Guardian, ponders the reasons as to why Brian Lara would play in a domestic Twenty20 tournament in Zimbabwe. If he keeps his side of the deal, Manthorp says, his contribution to Zimbabwe cricket could be immense.

Lara is a hero in Zimbabwe almost as much as he is in his haven of Trinidad and Tobago. Even young Zimbabweans more inclined towards soccer know exactly who he is and are drawn to him. Cricket bosses believe he could seriously shape the future of the game in the country, which is why they are considering paying him what many would consider an obscene amount of money to formalise a three-year relationship. But if Lara upholds his side of the deal it really could be worth it in the long run.

Former Zimbabwe fast bowler, Henry Olonga, recently released his autobiography Blood, Sweat and Treason, the first published by a Zimbabwean Test player. Martin Chandler calls it "one of the most compelling stories I have ever read" in his review on Cricketweb.

There is though, of course, much else besides cricket in this book and many will read it primarily for the insights it gives into life in Zimbabwe. This is where the narrative is at its best as Olonga thoughtfully and concisely gives his reader just enough information about the nation's history and politics to enable his story to be fully understood.

Dave Houghton, Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak, Bryan Strang - names that took Zimbabwe to its zenith of cricketing achievement before political turmoil destroyed their establishment. Now, the same names are working overtime to resurrect the game in their country. Aditya Iyer of the Indian Express finds out more.

After the first-class system ceased to exist during the dark days, the Zimbabweans have borrowed a tried and tested formula from their neighbours. According to Heath Streak, the bowling consultant, the franchise system has brought about stability. “The South African prototype of the franchise system has worked brilliantly for us. We have five franchises in the country which play all year long. The results have shown in the national team. In about three years, we’ll be ready for the biggest names,” Streak says.

Like any structure, the foundations are being strengthened to make sure it doesn’t cave inwards. “We’ve started working from the grassroots upwards, not the other way around. The coaching system has changed for the better. With the franchises coming into play, we’ve done well to fast-track back into international cricket.

Zimbabwe has surprised both India and Sri Lanka in the ongoing Tri-series tournament, beating the former twice and the latter once. Crucial to the team’s success has been the performances of its openers, especially Brendan Taylor. On Cricket365, Tristan Holme looks back at the path Taylor has taken in international cricket.

It's been a long and bumpy road for Brendan Taylor since his debut as an 18-year-old schoolboy. As if international cricket wasn't overawing enough for someone so young, he immediately found himself caught in the middle of a political standoff. Zimbabwe's white players were protesting at what they saw as a racist selection policy from Zimbabwe Cricket, and wanted Taylor to take their side. Instead he opted to stay out of it and play for his country, but while that's turned out to be a good decision it hasn't meant the past six years have been easy.

Taylor has threatened to leave Zimbabwe cricket on more than one occasion as the game ground slowly to a halt, nearly walking out just months before the 2007 World Twenty20, when he anchored the innings in a memorable upset of Australia. Non payment by Zimbabwe Cricket was one of the main reasons, but equally frustrating was the lack of guidance and professional atmosphere usually put in place for international cricketers. In the absence of it, he and his young teammates were unable to push themselves to higher levels.

Does anyone know what happened to Bryan Strang, former Zimbabwe medium-pacer, following the exodus of cricketers from the country in the early 2000s? Aditya Iyer reveals more in the Indian Express.

For the 38-year-old from Bulawayo, the prison cells, bloody wounds, alcohol-related problems, manic depression, suicidal tendencies and self-inflicted injuries of the recent past have now been replaced by a deep and sincere spirituality.

"I found God and it changed my life," says Strang, as he stubs out the cigarette butt. “I was angry with myself, my country and my life. By the time my career fizzled out, the revolution took ground in Zimbabwe. It was a terrible time in our lives …

“I was a white man who believed in harmony, somebody who wanted to be a monk in the Himalayas before I got fascinated by cricket. But all that changed when our lands were taken away from us. My anger made me rebel against the law.” The result was that he kept getting thrown in jail, which only increased his angst.

One of Zimbabwe's most colourful allrounders, Andy Blignaut, is back from exile and appears hungry to get back into the national fold as soon as possible. Now married, and blessed with twins, he is now a different man altogether. Fluent in Shona, he talks to Enock Muchinjo if the Zimbabwe Independent of his childhood in the family farm in Chivhu and his plans for the future.

“It’s a funny story. I grew up in the bush so I was kind of seeking the city lifestyle. Now I find myself looking for the quiet life again, where I belong. I live 6kms away from Falcon. Ku Harare ndinombouya, but kunotyisa. Isusu tajaira mudondo, tinotsvaga quiet life (I come to Harare once in a while, but it scares me. People like me are used to the bush), ” he explains.

South Africa are touring India for two Tests that will decide the No. 1 Test team in the world but Neil Manthorp was not in Nagpur and will not be in Kolkata either. In fact he's not even in India, but in Zimbabwe, where cricket is picking up after a decade of decay. Here's what he had to say on Supercricket.

Harare Sports Club has never looked so good and, to be absolutely honest, Zimbabwe Cricket has never had more of a buzz. Sponsors who abandoned the game during a decade of decay during the 2000s have returned and along with virtually all of the players who felt alienated enough to leave the game, and often the country, at some point in the last ten years.

Everywhere there is talk of ‘drawing a line in the sand’ and moving on for the good of the players and sake of the game. What is the point in dwelling on past disagreements and continuing to hold onto grudges which are past their sell-by date?

It was generally agreed that Zimbabwe’s recent 4-1 series defeat in the spin-haven of Bangladesh was not an accurate appraisal of their overall performance on the subcontinent, writes Enock Muchinjo in the Zimbabwe Independent, but what of the two ODIs in South Africa in familiar conditions this week? In recent months Zimbabwe Cricket has made appointments in crucial areas such as selection and coaching. In this editorial, Muchinjo examines a few dynamics that need addressing.

It's close to three years to the day when Mark Vermeulen, struggling to cope with anger, depression and frustration, torched the Zimbabwe academy and later faced the prospect of 25 years' imprisonment. A chance of a recall seemed unthinkable at the time, but the Zimbabwe opener says with confidence that he's a changed man. He talks Ian Chadband of the Telegraph through his extraordinary journey and recalls that fateful day.

"I'd been watching the TV and thought 'I've had enough of this'," Vermmeulen recalls. "I went off in my brother's Chevrolet, which had a South African number plate, and set fire to the building's thatched roof with a lighter. I watched it catch hold and then I drove away."

Alester Maregwede played international cricket for Zimbabwe between 2003 and 2005 and is now playing club cricket in Australia where he took his side to its first title in 20 years and won a number of awards on the way. He spoke to zimcricketnews.com about his hopes of playing for Zimbabwe again, playing with Andy Flower and the new franchise system for domestic cricket in the country.

As a kid I played with Andy Flower for the same club, when I was actually the captain, and he passed on a lot of things to me that even now I still use. He also gave me a copy of a book, Mental Toughness in Sports, and what he followed in it is what got him to be the Number 1 batsman in the world. At 24 they said I was too old to be playing and they pushed me into coaching, I had to do 2 years of it and playing and proved that I was good enough to play,and still one of the fittest. I haven't given up playing for my country and I will be making a return - I have always wanted to return to international cricket when we start playing Test cricket again, Test Cricket is the Cricketers ultimate Test.

Siddhartha Mishra, in his article in the Indian Express, tries to examine some of the reasons why Zimbabwe, who lit up the previous World Twenty20 with a shock win over Australia, find themselves in oblivion two years hence.

Why is Zimbabwe, a cricketing nation with Full Member status, not out there, entertaining our 20/20 vision-endowed eyeballs with its brand of sl­am-bang cricket? Politics. Much as the question is thought-provoking, the answer, shorn of subtl­e­ty, is disappointingly clichéd.

It’s amazing what a win or two can do to perk up even the most downhearted player or supporter. In Zimbabwe, the drubbing handed out to … er … the mighty Kenyans has caused the state-run mouthpiece, the Herald to launch into the kind of rhetoric last heard in Norway in 1981 when England were defeated at football and the local TV commentator went into his famous “Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating” rant.

“As expected, the Australians and the British have acted like perfect fools in placing sanctions on people like Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute,” boomed the lead editorial in the Zim$500,000,000 an issue paper. “They think by doing so, they can permanently cripple the game and isolate Zimbabwe by excluding the nation from Test cricket.

“Those who thought that Zimbabwean cricket would collapse because whites decided to play politics with the game have another think coming! Keep it up, Chingoka! Prove the detractors wrong!”

The deadline for applying for the post of Zimbabwe coach is today, and ZC is looking for someone with at least five years “senior coaching” and a recognized Level 3 coaching certificate. The Zimbabwe Independent looks at possible candidates for the hot seat.

On the local front, the last two national coaches, Kevin Curran and Robin Brown, meet the requirements… The only former player with the right credentials who has maintained some sort of links with Zimbabwe cricket is Alistair Campbell, the former national team captain. ... But again, the question is: does he want the job or does ZC want him?

	Zimbabwe have lost all three ODIs in their current series against Sri Lanka ... at the same time an ICC delegation has been in Harare looking at when they might be readmitted to Test cricket © AFP

The leaders of the game in that benighted land work hand in hand with Zanu pf. Peter Chingoka, the long standing chairman of a disreputable board, is allied to the influential Mujuru faction. He has mining interests, vast investments and houses overseas. Ozias Bvute, his opportunistic and thuggish CEO, is cut from the same stone. These fat cats ... gained from the activities of the CIO, Green Bombers and all the other ghastly representatives of the repressive state.

With an ICC delegation in town, Roebuck asks where the millions of dollars handed to the Zimbabwe board has gone.

Judging from the unpaid hotel bills, unpaid wages, overgrown club grounds, cancelled matches and disintegrating standards, precious little has been spent directly on cricket. Mind you, ZC did manage to send 14 officials on its last under-19 tour to South Africa.

And of the ICC and it's previous fact-finding missions?

Doubtless these delegates will not copy previous emissaries by idling in five-star hotels while sipping copious amounts of whisky with their hosts. Percy Sonn set the benchmark in that regard. The bitter, clever, late and unlamented former president of the ICC enjoyed his whisky almost as much as his hosts and, like them, ignored calls for justice and the cries of the common man.

Ray Mali, a foolish and compromised impostor, replaced Sonn, was promptly taken on the guided tour and announced that Zimbabwe was bound to go to the top of the one-day rankings. Reassured that their positions and fortunes were safe, Chingoka, Bvute and their relatives must have smiled to hear this absurdity.

Peter Roebuck writes in the Age that the situation in Zimbabwe has hardly improved and the ICC cannot keep sweeping it under the carpet.

Make no mistake, cricket is in Zimbabwe up to its neck. The leaders of the game in that benighted land work hand in hand with Zanu pf. Peter Chingoka, the long standing chairman of a disreputable board, is allied to the influential Mujuru faction. He has mining interests, vast investments and houses overseas. Ozias Bvute, his opportunistic and thuggish CEO, is cut from the same stone. These fat cats did not actually pour the burning plastic but they gained from the activities of the CIO, Green Bombers and all the other ghastly representatives of the repressive state.

An International Cricket Council delegation is in Harare to investigate the running of the game. The delegates each have different roles, Haroon Lorgat (ICC CEO and an accountant), Julian Hunte (governance) and Arjuna Ranatunga (coaching). It is a step in the right direction, taken despite Zimbabwe Cricket's protests. After all, $18.8 million was allocated to ZC last year and cricket is entitled to know how it was spent.

Judging from the unpaid hotel bills, unpaid wages, overgrown club grounds, cancelled matches and disintegrating standards, precious little has been spent directly on cricket. Mind you, ZC did manage to send 14 officials on its last under-19 tour to South Africa.

Mtutuzeli Nyoka cannot be serious … an olive branch to Zimbabwe’s Peter Chingoka? writes Peter Roebuck in the Witness. Even by the lamentable standards associated with cricket administrators, Mtutuzeli Nyoka’s first pronouncement as Cricket South Africa’s next president was profoundly discouraging.

Some of us receive daily reports from black Zimbabweans describing their plight. In Mandela, Tutu and company, this continent houses the greatest leaders alive. Alas, men of a different ilk are loose in Zimbabwean cricket (ZC). Far from taking Chingoka, Bvute and their racist cronies at face value, Nyoka ought to insist upon the immediate release of the official audit of the ZC accounts. After all, the game’s governing body itself requested the report as a means of ending controversy.

Enock Muchinjo of the Zimbabwe Independent catches up with Jackie Du Preez, who was one of the few Zimbabweans of his generation to play Test cricket, when he turned out for South Africa in 1967. Click here to read the interview.

What were your best moments representing South Africa?

Just to represent South Africa. They were the best Test side in the world. And earning Springbok colours alongside all those world-class players was a great achievement for me.

Who was the best Zimbabwean cricketer during your time?

As a bowler I would pick Joe Partridge, the great pace bowler. In the batting it’s Tony Pithey. It’s hard to pick any particular one player because there were a lot of fine players during our time.

The Zimbabwe Independent catches up with Walter Chawaguta, the man who replaced Robin Brown as Zimbabwe coach. He says:

"I decided early on to go into coaching. I felt there was a gap in coaching on the developmental side of the game. That gap needed to be filled.

"I was also motivated by my own experience. When I was an upcoming player, there was no one other than the development coaches to push me. I felt there was a big void. People like myself, Steve (Mangongo; Board XI coach) and Bruce (Makovah; former selectors chairman) saw the potential in a lot of kids and felt the need to help them get into the system.

"I didn’t foresee myself ending where I am now. I also went into coaching to further my playing side. After coaching I would make time to work on my own game. I still felt I had a chance to get noticed by selectors, which obviously wasn’t to be."

Michael Atherton, in the Times blasts the ICC for its handling of the Zimbabwe issue.

The ICC no longer has the moral authority to run the game. Given one final opportunity to lift decision-making out of the morass of self-interest, deceit and compromise into which it had fallen, it flunked the test. The outcome on Zimbabwe - self-censorship in return for the loot - was in many ways a triumph for Giles Clarke, the ECB's intelligent and forceful chairman, but it should signal the end for the ICC. Like flared trousers, string vests and the Bay City Rollers, what once seemed a good idea has had its day.

Brian Moore, in the Telegraph, is not in favour of sporting sanctions.

If cricketers should not play against Zimbabwe, why are English companies allowed to trade with impunity? The moral matrix differs not when it comes to trade. Indeed, economic sanctions were the real reason for the change in South African politics, not the sporting ban; anyone who believes different is naive.

	Relieved man: The new ICC president David Morgan © Getty Images

In The Age Alex Brown writes that “the outcome might amount to a triumph for politicking and face saving, but it will do little to improve the standard or appeal of international cricket.”

Cogniscant of the British government's threat to ban Zimbabwe from the tournament, the ICC's executive committee moved to avoid a potentially fractious fall-out by leaning on the ZC to withdraw its team. The ZC's reward was to retain its current level of funding and full voting power, which will almost certainly ensure India's virtual hegemony on the council for years to come.

In the Australian, Malcolm Conn described the ICC’s solution as an “embarrassing backdown”.

“The ICC continues to pour millions of dollars into Zimbabwe. There are serious questions about where the money ends up, with cricket at all levels in Zimbabwe destroyed and the administration closely aligned to dictator Robert Mugabe. One frustrated member of the cricket establishment yesterday told The Australian: "The ICC should just write out a cheque for $10m to Mugabe.”

Anand Vasu, writing in the Hindustan Times, is critical of the decision.

Worst of all, those governing the game in Zimbabwe have been given the license to eat their cake and have it too. Already they were freed of the effort required to produce a Test team, hardly bother with their ODI side, and now they won't be playing the World Twenty20.

In The Times, Richard Hobson says the outcome is a triumph for ECB chairman Giles Clarke, adding:

The supine ICC should be ashamed at continuing to give money to an organisation whose links with the Robert Mugabe regime were detailed forensically by Norman Arendse, the Cricket South Africa president. It is a disgrace that the ICC constitution does not allow Zimbabwe to be stood down on political grounds when cricket and politics are entwined in the country.

"Many suspected that Giles Clarke's negotiating style would be too brusque for ICC tastes. They reflected upon a history of disastrous ECB negotiators and feared the worst. He might yet prove too volatile. But in Dubai, as England won the right not to host Zimbabwe in next summer's World Twenty20, he enjoyed a striking personal triumph," writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

Also in The Times, Dileep Premachandran looks at the reasons behind India's support for Zimbabwe.

It came down to Zimbabwe being the fifth vote. Financial considerations mean that the Asian bloc will invariably vote as one, but with South Africa now having broken off cricketing ties with Zimbabwe, it was imperative that India retain its power base at the ICC. And if that means supporting a board whose links to Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party are not even in doubt, then so be it.

And Stephen Brinkley writes in the Independent how Nelson Madela mentioning "the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe" last week influenced the ICC meeting.

In the Times, Michael Atherton says that on cricket alone, the situation in Zimbabwe is a complete disgrace. The first-class structure has fallen apart, wicketkeepers don't have enough gloves, there are no lunches or teas provided and there is no diesel to fuel the tractors and mow the outfields.

So what has happened to the millions of dollars given to Zimbabwe Cricket by the ICC? If only we knew. On the ICC's website there is a mission statement of values, one of which, under the heading “Openness, honesty and integrity”, reads: “We work to the highest ethical standards. We do what we say we are going to do, in the way we say we are going to do it.” Presumably, because the ICC is simply an amalgam of its constituent parts, these constituent parts sign up to such mission statements, too. But Zimbabwe Cricket has issued no accounts for public consumption since 2005.

Andy Burnham, Britain's secretary of state for culture, media and sport, in the Telegraph, explains the government's instruction to ask the England board to sever ties with Zimbabwe Cricket.

This direct intervention in the affairs of a sporting body was not one I took lightly. I firmly believe that sport should operate autonomously from government, and intervention is a last resort. The government had previously called on the International Cricket Council to reconsider their rules to allow teams to forfeit tours to countries, such as Zimbabwe, where serious human rights abuses are occurring. Unfortunately, the ICC have declined to do so

But the serious human rights abuses in the recent election, and the close ties of the Zimbabwe cricket team to the Mugabe regime, presented the kind of exceptional circumstances that justified exceptional measures.

As a result, the ECB announced they were to sever relations with Zimbabwe's cricket authority, and the tour was cancelled.

It is, perhaps, indicative of just how far Zimbabwe has descended into despotism that there has been barely a murmur of disagreement since.

The Guardian brings out the opposing views of former Zimbabwe cricketer John Traicos and Goolam Raja, the South African team's general manager, on whether sports-based sanctions have an influence on politics.

The ICC is set to meet this week in Dubai to discuss, among other things, whether Zimbabwe should remain a Full Member or not. New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark, has said the government would prefer that New Zealand Cricket cancelled its tour of Zimbabwe next year. Paul Holden, the Sideline Slogger, says it's not possible for the team to just no show up for the tour.

If NZC decide to bite the hand that feeds and pull the pin on the tour for an unacceptable reason along the lines of: “Sorry chaps, we find Zimbabwe a morally reprehensible place to play”, they will be staring down the barrel at an initial fine of US$2m from the ICC. Then there will be a killer blow: an obligation to pay Zimbabwe Cricket millions more as reimbursement for any losses incurred as a result of our no-show. If you sucked US$10m out of NZC, that would cripple the organisation and the sport of cricket in New Zealand. Hardly a practical option.

On the other hand, the players are contracted to NZ Cricket and must make themselves available for each and every tour - as much as some of them would like, they cannot pick and choose. Even if there were some allowances made for players who wanted to opt out on moral grounds, a New Zealand team of some description would still be obliged to front up in Harare.

In his Sunday Times column, David Gower has a clear message for the ICC and the Indian board.

[The ICC] is an organisation with a reputation for dodging the big issues, of preferring to rule by consensus and has done its best over the years to avoid confrontation.

India has been a supporter of Zimbabwe for years and has in return been assured at all times of Zimbabwe’s vote whenever needed. But surely this is no time to allow a blinkered view of world affairs to affect their judgment. It is one thing to claim politics and sport should not mix but the BCCI are past masters in the politics of sport and are world leaders when it comes to the business of sport. Their coffers are fuller than all others and if they wish to be a major power, they should assume the greater, wider responsibilities that come with that power.

It would be a scandal if that part of the world were to put its own interests first. India has the perfect opportunity to show it does care about more than just the money.

Commenting on the move to revoke Zimbabwe's Full Member status, Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times asks why should the BCCI take a stand when other boards have followed government directives? He highlights two problems in case the Indian board and the ICC indeed do the right thing and strip Zimbabwe of its status.

Firstly, if the ICC was to go after Zimbabwe cricket for its political problems, then what will happen of their plans to take cricket to China and USA, one country with a woeful human rights record at home and another which holds hundreds indefinitely without any rights whatsoever at an off-shore detention centre?

Secondly, Morgan’s taking the moral high ground is a touch disingenuous, for the ECB has made its move only after receiving a letter from their Culture, Media and Sport secretary, thereby safeguarding them from the $2 million fine that the ICC could have levied had they unilaterally snapped ties with Zimbabwe.

The ECB has suspended all bilateral agreements with the Zimbabwe board and cancelled England's tour to Zimbabwe next summer and the Guardian's Andy Bull welcomes the decision for sport and politics are inseparable, so the government's stance on Zimbabwe is the least one should expect.

It is a damning indictment of the previous regime's handling of the issue that the letter from Andy Burnham to the ECB stating that England should not be playing cricket against Zimbabwe should seem to be so refreshingly direct an approach. That clarity of thought and action is the very least we should expect from a government which has been so keen to use sporting success for its own political advancement. Having been repeatedly shafted by the government's wavering over the years, it's childishly satisfying that one England player urinated in the garden of No10 Downing Street, while another called Blair a wally during their drunken post-Ashes party.

In the Times Mike Atherton criticises the ECB for taking the decision to suspend ties with Zimbabwe only after being assured there would be no financial penalties.

After receiving Burnham’s letter, the ECB released a statement stating its concern over the “lack of human rights in Zimbabwe”. Only now, after years of human rights abuses, has the ECB found the courage to speak. It appears that it is fine to be moral, as long as it does not cost you money.

Atherton has another piece in the same paper, this one about his embarrassment at a photo of him taken with Robert Mugabe:

Why should I be embarrassed about a 12-year-old photograph? Partly, I think, because of my slightly deferential body language. For someone who has never been impressed by status, power or money, it’s puzzling to see that I’m not quite bowing, but nearly.

Also read Sambit Bal's piece in cricinfo.com urging the ICC to end years of indifference by suspending Zimbabwe's Full-Member status.

Cricket South Africa should be applauded for suspending its bilateral agreement with Zimbabwe Cricket, a move that should finally force cricket's administrators to abandon their association with the country, writes Angus Fraser in the Independent.

It is about time a group of administrators took action in response to what has and continues to take place in Zimbabwe; it is only a shame that it was left to CSA, Zimbabwe's closest allies, to make the decision and not the British Government, ICC or ECB. Zimbabwe has been a maggot-infested open wound sitting on the face of cricket for quite some time, causing huge embarrassment to anyone who places the moral integrity of the game ahead of money, the commodity cricket cannot get enough of these days. One of the only non-Zimbabweans to have taken a moral stand in recent times is Nasser Hussain, the former England captain. Hussain refused to take his side to Zimbabwe at the 2003 World Cup, a brave and admirable move that ultimately ended England's chances of winning the tournament.

Next week the ICC executive will sit down and discuss the future of Zimbabwe. As their choices narrow, Cricinfo's Martin Williamson looks at the three options on the table.

In the Sunday Telegraph, Steve James writes that should Robert Mugabe be forced from office in Zimbabwe then there will be a bonus for cricket in the country in that it may well signal the demise of ZC chairman Peter Chingoka.

Under Chingoka and his evil-eyed side-kick Ozias Bvute, Zimbabwean cricket has been crippled. Only without them could cricket in the country ever hope to begin dragging itself from its "quagmire of cronyism", as one close observer has described it.

Even if Mugabe and Chingoka are ousted, a return to Test cricket seems impossible. Zimbabwe's cricketing infrastructure appears far too damaged. Their twin pillars of school and club cricket have all but been destroyed. A talent base of players and administrators has left the country. Those that remain have little desire to be involved, change of government or not.

Times of India's Manu Joseph remembers his 2003 trip to Zimbabwe:

One morning, the blonde host began to tell me how much the world hated Robert Mugabe. The world, of course, called him a despot and considered his campaign against affluent white farmers, racist. “Even the blacks hate him,” she said. That, I was not willing to believe. The Third World brain is universal and I knew that between the rich and their despot, the poor will always hate the rich more.

	© Getty Images

Chingoka is not the easiest person to interview; part obstinate, part evasive, part combative. Then again, if you were being asked to account for millions of dollars in missing funds - as well as a recent independent audit that allegedly uncovered "serious financial irregularities" within your organisation - you might be a little tetchy, too.

[He] is alleged to have siphoned money earmarked for grassroots cricket in Zimbabwe and, along with aide Ozias Bvute, feathered his own nest. While the country's cricketers are forced to play on unprepared wickets, with no scorers to maintain proper first-class records, Chingoka has stood impervious, safe in the knowledge that he still maintains full voting privileges on the International Cricket Council - the same as India, England and Australia - and therefore remains a sought-after ally. To sport-loving Zimbabweans, black and white, he is the Grinch who stole cricket.

As expected, the Zimbabwe media have seized on the ICC’s decision not to take any action against Zimbabwe Cricket to attack critics of the regime, most notably the British government.

The Zimbabwe Guardian , which claimed that the independent forensic audit by KPMG had found only “minor improprieties” said that the outcome would be “an embarrassment to British PM Gordon Brown and those politicians in Westminster who expected a different result”

It also quoted an unnamed member of the national side as saying:

“They did not expect to get this result. They wanted Zimbabwe to be found guilty of irregularities. This disappoints the British government who were considering banning Zimbabweans from sporting activities in the UK. Chingoka had always maintained his innocence. This news will not be good news to people like Gordon Brown and Henry Olonga who have strongly criticised Zimbabwe Cricket.”

The ICC must expel Zimbabwe in the wake of a damning audit and sanction Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the ICC's cricket committee, for his newspaper column in reaction to match referee Mike Procter's imposition of a three-Test ban on Harbhajan Singh, says Malcolm Conn in the Australian.

If it does not, this hopelessly compromised organisation will reinforce its ruined reputation as a bunch of serving cronies with no interest in the good of the game.

Should Zimbabwe stay intact as a full voting but non-playing Test member of the ICC and Gavaskar not be punished for claiming that white match referee Mike Procter is racially biased against Indian players because of their colour, then the very worst fears of cricket's present and future will be reinforced

South Africa's Times claims that the forensic audit will slam the Zimbabwe board.

It is known to paint a damning picture of Zimbabwe cricket’s finances. Singled out for particular censure are ZCU president Peter Chingoka and CEO Ozias Bvute. Depending on the severity of the penalties against the two, they could be removed from their positions on the relevant ICC sub-committees.

Bvute sits on the chief executive’s committee, while Chingoka sits on the governance review committee, a rather rich state of affairs given that corporate governance does not appear to be Zimbabwe cricket’s strongest suit. The final report represents at least two years of arduous work by the ICC and the auditors, in which they have received very little help from the ZCU.

The ICC, like FIFA, has to take control of the game and make it possible for the players to earn good money while still playing for their country, says Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner.

A report in The Sunday Telegraph highlights a change of approach from the UK government which makes it less likely that any England side will play Zimbabwe while Robert Mugabe remains in power.

While the Blair government was all too willing to talk, it refused to take any action and left the onus on the England board. Under Gordon Brown, it seems words might be backed by actions.

Amid suggestions of a hardening of attitudes since Gordon Brown took over, the government are looking again at legal options.

Should the Government decide on a blanket ban on all sporting links with Zimbabwe, it is possible the effects might be felt beyond cricket. Such a move might raise questions, for example, over Zimbabwean participation in the 2012 London Olympics.

	© Getty Images

One commentator noted that now everyone knew why the Australian national side was banned by its government from coming to Zimbabwe for a one-day international series this month.

Zimbabwe had won the hearts of the crowd for their commitment in all departments and it was no surprise that virtually everyone waited for their chance to congratulate the victorious players who went on a victory lap. The electronic scoreboard stayed with the message "Congratulations Zimbabwe" for the night.

Perhaps fortunately, the result came too late for today’s Australian papers, but tomorrow’s are unlikely to be too forgiving to Ricky Ponting’s side.

David Hopps in The Guardian notes:

It was also an embarrassing start for Tim Nielsen, Australia's new coach, whose side were 50-1 on favourites, but who looked unprepared both physically and mentally. They had practiced on the featherbed pitches of Johannesburg and entirely failed to adapt to the more hostile conditions in Cape Town.

In The Daily Telegraph, Simon Briggs says it was down to preparation.

Beset by political troubles, Zimbabwe have suspended themselves voluntarily from Test cricket indefinitely. There are many within the sport who believe they should not be allowed to compete at all until the tyrant Robert Mugabe is deposed. But whatever the real-world backdrop, this team have clearly prepared themselves with great efficiency for this tournament. Their bowling was disciplined, and their batting cool-headed.

How is it possible that Zimbabwe Cricket has more influence in the governance of the game than the serial world champions, Australia? Malcolm Conn in The Australian has taken aim at the vested interests that control the game's ruling body.

Zimbabwe continues to enjoy the same constitutional power and authority over the running of the game as Australia. Indeed, in the politics of cricket, where the big games are really played, Zimbabwe can be said to be more powerful than Australia because it is part of the Afro-Asia bloc with India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which ultimately controls the game.

So having destroyed the game in its own country and lost almost all of its good players to professional offers overseas, the Zimbabwe administration remains a central figure of the ICC as one of the so-called 10 Test countries which run the game. Except that because Zimbabwe has "voluntarily" withdrawn from Test cricket, it is no longer officially counted by the ICC on its own ranking system.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Kate Hoey, the former Sports Minister, demands that her successor, Richard Caborn, takes the same stance that the Australian government recently took, and demands a boycott of Zimbabwean cricket.

Mr Caborn was a noted campaigner against apartheid in South Africa and an advocate of the sporting boycott. He should now join all those in Zimbabwe, including the trade unions, calling for a similar sporting boycott of Zimbabwe. It is time for an end to double standards.

And Hoey's article was followed by an announcement that the Liberal Democrats had tables a Commons motion critical of the decision to grant the visa. The party's shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster MP, said:

Considering the way in which Mr Chingoka was appointed to his job, its is frankly ridiculous to argue that cricket has not become a political tool of this deplorable regime.

In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins interviews Malcolm Speed, the ICC’s chief executive, about the problems facing cricket’s governing body.

The two main issues seem to be the format of the World Cup and Zimbabwe. On the World Cup, Speed admits that things need looking at:

“We will thoroughly review the 2007 tournament, learn from any mistakes and do our best to ensure they are not repeated. I think 16 teams is a good number, but there is scope to knock at least a week off the duration by playing through Easter and scheduling more than one game a day. The popularity of day/night matches in the four host countries could enable us to have day games and day/night games running on the same dates.”

And as for Zimbabwe, it is very much the same message as has been trotted out for several years:

“We have said consistently that governments should make political decisions rather than cricket boards and if a government refuses its team permission to tour another country, we respect that. If sporting sanctions are to apply, they must apply to all sports. I do not believe that they would solve any of the problems that the people of Zimbabwe face.”

While the Australian government has already delivered its final verdict on the tour of Zimbabwe, Dean Jones argues against it, stating that Australia have a moral responsibility by touring and inspiring youngsters to take up the game, rather than go back to a life of crime.

When many of Australia's top cricketers took the blood money and went on the rebel tour of South Africa, Zimbabwe helped provide experience for our next generation to develop quickly. I was one of them.

It is worth remembering that Jones, who commentated on the previous Australia tour of Zimbabwe in 2004, said at the time: "I'm just there to watch the cricket and I don't give a rat's arse what he [Mugabe] does about his country."

Read the full piece in the Herald Sun.

The Zimbabwe Independent, an almost lone voice in a state-controlled media, has warned that Robert Mugabe would seize on the visit of the Australian side for propaganda purposes. It warned about the kind of story that would follow:

"Blair says Zimbabwe is a pariah state and everything has collapsed, but even the world cricket champions have enjoyed our hospitality. Go and tell Mr Howard back home that there is no war in Zimbabwe and the people are as happy and friendly as ever."

But it went on to say that a boycott would do nothing to harm Mugabe:

Anyone who believes Mugabe would shed a tear if Australia were to call off their scheduled tour of Zimbabwe might as well believe the veteran leader will spend the remainder of his old life in a monastery. If Mugabe has defied international pressure directed at his person for the past seven years, there is no reason to believe that cricket sanctions would make a dent on his conscience.

Whatever propaganda Mugabe will spin should Ricky Ponting and his men come, the word already knows the truth and the lies will only be as good as that — lies. We hope Australia will make a sporting decision instead of a political one. Zimbabwe’s young and inexperienced cricketers need Australia more than Mugabe does. The young players have a future and Mugabe doesn’t have.

In The Australian, Malcolm Conn says that John Howard’s offer to pay any fine levied by the ICC should Australia refuse to tour Zimbabwe is not the solution:

A government ban would solve all of CA's problems but with it would come a Pandora's box. Should there also be a ban on touring Pakistan next year, given it is a military dictatorship? Should Australia ban its Olympic team from competing in Beijing given China's human rights record?

But he also has a go at the game itself:

The fundamental problem is that the Zimbabwean crisis proves how rotten world cricket administration is at the top.

In its broadest, philosophical sense cricket's weeping sore is a continuation of the fight against colonialism which takes deeply held loyalties to the ICC, regardless of the consequences.

During the dark days of white supremacist rule in South Africa and Zimbabwe, India was a strong ally of the freedom fighters in southern Africa.

Only last month, that nexus was graphically highlighted again when India walked away from an agreement with Australia to play three one-day matches in Ireland next month.

India will now play South Africa in a meaningless match worth millions in television rights. Why? Because Australia is supporting England chairman David Morgan to take over as president of the ICC as part of the proper rotation of the position. South Africa decided to support Indian board chief Sharad Pawar, a government minister.

	Vusi Sibanda: "I don't feel like my game has improved, and I believe that will happen in Australia" © AFP

Vusi Sibanda tells the Sydney Morning Herald’s Alex Brown how he plans to walk away from international cricket in Zimbabwe to play for a Sydney club side.

There is little joy in Sibanda's voice when he outlines his intention to retire aged 23 in pursuit of what would seem an inverse sporting dream. Sitting in the pavilion at Bankstown Oval, a fortnight after playing at the World Cup, Sibanda wearily details the social and sporting decline of his homeland.

"I had dreamed of playing for Zimbabwe all my life but, over the years, it has changed a lot," he says, having just guided an invitational African XI to victory in the annual Cricket Masala tournament in western Sydney. "The young guys have been left to clean up the mess. In the last three years, I don't feel like my game has improved, and I believe that will happen in Australia."

Amid all the celebrations at Ireland’s fightback to tie with Zimbabwe last Thursday, what many overlooked was that the result was another major blow to Zimbabwean cricket. A Test nation, with an income from the ICC of many millions of dollars, should not be humbled by part-timers … although Pakistan showed two days later that lightning can strike twice.

In The Sunday Telegraph, Sycld Berry argues that restoring Zimbabwe’s Test status in November – which is what the Zimbabwe board are telling anyone that will listen will happen – would not only be bad for the game but also bad for the standing of the sport inside the country itself.

Quite apart from the ethics involved in allowing a nation which has Robert Mugabe for head of state to participate in the world community, Zimbabwe seem to be even more unfit for Test cricket now than when they were suspended.

The last of Zimbabwe's Tests was one of their better performances too: they lost by no greater margin than 10 wickets. Their previous seven Tests against countries other than Bangladesh were all lost by an innings and large amounts of runs, South Africa winning one Test in two days.

If the ICC want to help, the world body should organise and fund three years of competitive cricket for these Zimbabwean cricketers. They need to gain the experience of winning; they need a batting and bowling role-model in their side to learn from, and that can only mean an overseas player unless Streak returns. Being plunged again into the deep end of Test cricket from November will do them vastly more harm than good.

	Peter Chingoka: 'To look at him nowadays is to see a man who knows the corruption of his soul' © Getty Images

In the Sydney Morning Herald he launched a stinging attack on Peter Chingoka and Ozias Bvute, the chairman and managing director of the board, demanding that they be removed from office immediately.

It's no use waiting for the local police to act, let alone the cricket community, because these scoundrels long ago stacked the board - besides which, they have friends in high places. Chingoka will resist every attempt to launch an investigation into their activities. They know that any genuine investigation will result in long prison sentences.

Roebuck continued:

Under the shameless stewardship of these men, the game in Zimbabwe has sunk into a pit of bullying, corruption and despair. The good work performed by numerous coaches and the promise of young black and white cricketers has been betrayed. Money intended for the development of the game has been used for private purposes. Any player daring to question the conduct of these thugs has been chased away, or else threatened.

And Roebuck went on to savage Chingoka, who, he wrote, had become a pitiful figure:

To look at him nowadays is to see a man who knows the corruption of his soul. Drink has become his solace. It was not always the case. Until a few years ago, Chingoka's reputation remained high. Eloquent, intelligent and charming, he represented the best of liberated Africa. He was universally trusted. Not bad progress for an Ndebele in a country dominated by Shona. The only warning sign was a passing remark made to a cricket official from another country. Something about ‘playing the hand he had been given’. Principles meant nothing to him. The result has been a man drunk on power and liquor.

Chingoka's deterioration has been painful to behold. Money has been his undoing. He has always enjoyed flash cars, malt whiskey, tailored suits, elegant houses. Alas, he sold his name to obtain them.

And Bvute does not escape Roebuck’s attention either:

If anything, Bvute is even worse. He who does not bother to hide his ignorance about cricket, his contempt for the players or his greed. Despite a shady past that allegedly includes dubious dealings in Botswana, Bvute secured and maintained a high position in Zimbabwe cricket. He is as thick as thieves with the crooks running the country. Like them, he conceals his improprieties under a cover of post-colonial bluster, hides his disregard for the common man beneath a veneer of populist claptrap. Meanwhile, he keeps his snout in the trough.

The interview addressed all the issues dogging Chingoka - the controversial new constitution, the financial position of the board and the long-awaited forensic audit, the domestic programme and the national side.

But Chingoka skirted round many of the questions, and on closer scrutiny the answers were vague. But he did hint, as Cricinfo revealed last month, that Test cricket would not be resumed until 2007-08:

"We are working with the ICC on this issue with the aim of resuming in the 2007-08 season. In order to do this, we believe we need to play 10 to 12 unofficial three/four-day matches. The youngsters are coping with the shorter version but need more exposure to the longer version."

In The Times, former Wisden editor Tim de Lisle highlights the fact that cricket's international merry-go-round is not only hard on the players, it's also pretty environmentally unfriendly. He recalled that while editing Wisden Cricket Monthly a few years ago, he commissioned an investigation into the mileage of top players:

"We named the first winner — Australia's Ian Healy, who had done, from memory, about 70,000 miles. Within a few years, the winner (by then Stephen Fleming, of New Zealand) was doing 100,000 miles. International cricket’s total emissions, for a relatively small sport, must be colossal."

"Open an Indian magazine and the chances are you will see Sachin Tendulkar sharing a little of his personal cachet with a motorbike. And administrators in the subcontinent still think it’s OK to give the man of the match a bike or even a car. Not even the umpires are immune. Fly Emirates, say their shirts, which is demeaning to them and damaging to the planet."

Peter Whalley in The Zimbabwean looks at the effect that the recent one-day series win has had inside Zimbabwe and the cases for and against the country being kicked out of international cricket because of the deteriorating political situation.

Beating Bangladesh 3-2 was a much-needed fillip to morale inside the country.

“This feel good factor is likely to be swept away when the side faces stronger opposition, but a series win over an improving Bangladesh side cannot be ignored. It would suggest that the young team does have the potential to improve as long as it can continue to have international exposure even if the return to Test cricket is delayed.”

And Whalley makes a very valid point about the need to keep plugging away, regardless of the politics.

“It is important that the game continues and if that means working with the new dispensation, no matter how unpalatable to some, then so be it. There will come a time when the Zanu PF leviathan is no more and its fellow travellers on the cricket gravy train will disappear, so that genuine cricket-loving Zimbabweans can take the game to new heights from a position of growing strength. This is surely preferable to a situation of starting from scratch, which would be the case if those pressing for Zimbabwe's total isolation had their way.”

The ICC might like to take a leaf out of FIFA’s book – and that’s not something we ever thought would be written here. The endless protestations about not being able to get involved in domestic issues which the ICC wield like an invisibility cloak whenever anyone mentions Zimbabwe have been put into context by FIFA’s suspension of Greece because of excessive government control in the sport.

The Daily Telegraph reported that FIFA acted because the Greek government had exerted levels of interference “not in line with the principles of the FIFA statutes regarding the independence of member associations and the independence of the decision-making process of the football-governing body in each country."

Compared with the shenanigans surrounding the politiciasation of the Zimbabwe board, the Greeks are pussycats. The difference is that those who run the global game are not prepared to sit and look in the other direction.

The Zimbabwe Independent interviews Zimbabwe's young captain
Terry Duffin, a man with cricket's least enviable job. Duffin has inherited a side with no experience and limited talent ... and in a month's time they head to the Caribbean to face West Indies.

"I think the two games we won we got it right in all departments. The other two games we lost we got it all wrong. It is something that we have to work hard on."

In the Sunday Telegraph, Scyld Berry writes that Zimbabwe's time is now up, and the takeover of cricket by the government has left an administration who can intimidate and bully, but know little about the game of cricket:

These Zanu chaps, they know their realpolitick, even if they couldn't tell the difference between a googly and Google.

It's not just the cricket press ... the lead editorial in the Daily Telegraph in London also takes a shot at the ICC.

The ICC must intervene, but not just to ensure players are paid. It should tell Zimbabwe's tyrant that until he stops abusing human rights and democracy, his country will be barred from all international cricket. Like the United Nations, the ICC is dominated by Third World countries. These have been reluctant to take a stand against a regime that is by any objective standards as brutal as South Africa's was during its ostracism under apartheid. The ICC seems unable to see how its craven and amoral behaviour is staining cricket's name. It should grow that spine without further delay.

Steve Waugh says it's time to strip Zimbabwe of international status. Read what he has to say here.

© Cricinfo

He needs to grow up. I needed to give him brotherly advice because I thought some of the decisions he was making needed guidance. Unfortunately there was an exchange of words. Contrary to what some people think, he's an arrogant boy. Money and fame have gone to his head and he has failed to manage it.

For more on this man, it's worth Googling his name. Sift through the results - they don't make for pleasant reading. It's easy to see why Taibu went into hiding.

In Zimbabwe, the truth is not always welcome. Zimbabwe Cricket yesterday used the pro-government Herald to denounce Cricinfo’s recent reporting as being biased.

The website’s uses a correspondent who uses a pseudonym Stephen Price who has clearly taken sides with those who are rebelling against the board’s authority.

What the article, a thinly-disguised plant by the board, fails to grasp is that reporting the truth is not taking sides. It also fails to deny that the meeting and vote of no confidence referred to took place. Zimbabwe’s stakeholders are fed up with the management, and no end of media manipulation can hide that fact. This is the paper that ignored the defeats by Kenya, and neglected to mention any of the anti-board incidents which have occured in recent months.

And why does our man in Harare use a pseudonym? Because in Zimbabwe, journalists who oppose authority have an unfortunate record of being singled out for persecution. The pseudonym is not cowardice so much as self preservation.

As Zimbabwe cricket seems hell-bent on self-destruction, even the local media, who operate under strict controls, have had enough. In the Zimbabwe Independent, Darlington Majonga highlighted the frustrations of cricket lovers:

Whereas Zimbabwe's pride has been shredded on the field of play, it's the off-field politics that threaten the future of the game ... the future of Zimbabwe's game is under siege from smart hooliganism. People whose thinly veiled agenda is to sate their egos at the expense of the game have sabotaged Zimbabwe's cricket.

Peter Roebuck profiles Waddington Mwayenga - who he calls a "likeable, determined, polite, bright and athletic lad" - and goes on to lament the deeper problem surrounding cricket in Zimbabwe.

Mwayenga might have enjoyed a fairly impressive debut Test but the root of the problem persists. Roebuck writes:

What was it all about, all that fighting and posturing? ... Complacency amongst whites. Revenge amongst an angry and self-serving bunch of black administrators. Two rotten emotions that can destroy this continent as they are destroying Zimbabwean cricket. Two self-indulgences Africa cannot afford. Two wretched outlooks calculated to crush youthful idealism.