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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
DOMESTIC cricket players will have a gloomy Christmas holiday after it emerged that they are yet to get their salaries for November and December.Zimbabwe cricket has been for a long time been faced with financial challenges and as a result, this led to a late take-off of the 2013/14 domestic season which only started at the beginning of the season.
The salary standoff affected second round of Logan Cup matches leading to cancellation of MidWest-Southern Rocks game in Kwekwe and the Manicaland Mountaineers-Mashonaland Eagles tie in Mutare. Both matches were supposed to have been played on December 17-20.
Senior players like national team cricketer Brendan Taylor, Vusi Sibanda and Malcolm Waller are said to have downed their bats in protest against delayed salaries. The ZC issued a statement saying it could not “provide guarantees of specific dates” for payment of player salaries.
In an interview yesterday, a number of cricketers said they have been relying on their families and friends for their upkeep.
“Cricket is our job and truly how are you expected to cope when you are not paid. As players we are very much worried because we don’t know what the feature holds for us anymore. There are no guarantees as to when we are going to get our salaries and to be honest, the guys are stressed as we are spending Christmas broke,” said a player.
Another cricketer said the festive he will not be able to be merry during the holidays.
“How can I be merry when I have nothing in my pocket? I am the head of my family and I am supposed to provide for the family but my employers have not paid me. How do they expect us to spend the holidays? You may be surprised that as much as we are affected as players, they (cricket leadership) are having a blissful holiday,” another cricketer said.
A senior cricketer at Matabeleland Tuskers in Bulawayo said they envy the decision taken by one of the country’s upcoming players Njabulo “Papa” Ncube to quit the game at 24 years old and head to South Africa to coach at schools in Gauteng Province.
“When Papa said he was leaving the sport, not many of us thought it was a good decision. We tried to talk him out of the idea but it seems he had already made up his decision. He had potential to work his way back into the national team but I guess because he had to choose whether to stay jobless or migrate in search for greener pastures, then I think he did the right thing,” said a senior cricketer.
In their statement, ZC said “We remain in discussion with financial institutions over the player salaries. We are unable to actually provide guarantees of specific dates except expectations – which expected dates may not be met if negotiations take longer.
“Our position therefore, which we have communicated to the players, is that we remain committed to paying their November salaries at the earliest possible time, and the rest of what is owed them when our financial position improves.”
In August this year, the Zimbabwe cricketers formed a union to participate in salary negotiations prior to the series against Pakistan. The board’s financial condition also resulted in Sri Lanka’s tour to the country in October being deferred.
The domestic competitions in Zimbabwe, scheduled to begin in November, were also delayed due to financial problems and had to start without any sponsor.
According to ESPNcricinfo Zimbabwe Cricket has asked the ICC for an additional loan of $3 million but an insider said the ICC may only agree to that if ZC provided an audit of the funds they received from the Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme earlier this year.
Online Reporter