Cricket's custodians seem intent on keeping their head in the sand approach to Zimbabwe after International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat said there was no evidence of impropriety in the hopelessly compromised nation.
The ICC's latest effort to pay some attention to the state of cricket in
Zimbabwe has been to appoint a task team, headed by Dr Julian Hunte from the West Indies, Sri Lankan Arjuna Ranatunga and Lorgat himself, which will visit the country to examine the situation.
It appears unlikely they will show up much if they take the attitude Lorgat did when asked about the relationship between Zimbabwe cricket and the despotic regime of President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are embroiled in talks over a power-sharing deal following Tsvangirai's victory over Mugabe in general elections this year - a result Mugabe refused to acknowledge.
"It's the ICC's policy not to interfere with the political situation in the country, we want to focus on the game of cricket, and at this stage we have no evidence of what you suggest, none of that's been reported, and we have to deal with the game of cricket," Lorgat said.
"The task team will go down to Zimbabwe to look at exactly what's on the playing field. I would like my focus to be not on the boardroom, but on exactly what's going on on the playing field of cricket."
Among the most puzzling appointments to come from the ICC's recent board meeting was the retention of Zimbabwean representative Peter Chingoka on the corporate governance committee.
This was despite Chingoka being put on the European Union's list of people banned from travelling through the EU and freezing whatever assets he may have there because of his purported links to Mugabe.
Lorgat explained the re-appointment by saying Chingoka was one of few members of the board to have "institutional knowledge or memory of the organisation".
- AAP
