da luck： The decision by the Australian Cricket Board to pull out of their scheduledtour of Zimbabwe next month might have plunged the country’s cricketfraternity into turmoil but the Zimbabwe Cricket Union are still hopefulthat the tour will be revived
da betobet： Larry Moyo28-Mar-2002The decision by the Australian Cricket Board to pull out of their scheduledtour of Zimbabwe next month might have plunged the country’s cricketfraternity into turmoil but the Zimbabwe Cricket Union are still hopefulthat the tour will be revived.A visibly dejected ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka told a press conference inHarare on Wednesday that they would try and convince the ACB to reconsidertheir position on Zimbabwe. He ruled out staging the two-Test and threeone-dayer series at a neutral venue.”We received the news with a very heavy heart, but we are also working veryhard to ensure that the tour will take place as originally scheduled. Ourposition is that there is nothing to fear and that there should be noconcerns at all about safety.”We are terribly disappointed with this development and we are workingvigorously for the travel restrictions, which led to this withdrawal, to belifted. The Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and the Sports andRecreation Commission are both being helpful in this matter and we remainhopeful as there is still time enough to restore the tour,” said Chingoka.Chingoka said that there was still enough time to try and persuade theAustralians to change their position. “We still believe that there issufficient time between now and 11 April to try and get a positive review ofthe travel restrictions from the Australians. A decision can be made aslate as possible because the Australian cricket team is currently on tour inSouth Africa, which is just next door. We stand ready to host them asscheduled, the grounds are ready and I’m sure that the hospitableZimbabweans will be very willing to receive them.”Although there had been speculation that the ZCU would approach their SouthAfrican counterparts with a request to move the tour to the neighbouringcountry, this has been shot down. Agreeing to move the tour to South Africawould mean that the ZCU are concurring with the Australians that Zimbabwe isnot safe to host the current world Test and one-day champions.”Moving the tour to South Africa is totally out of question because webelieve that it is extremely safe for the Australians to visit Zimbabwe atthis time. We believe that there is no need to look for a neutral venue.”Australia are expected to play their 2003 World Cup group match againstZimbabwe at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo but they have not yet made adecision on that match.”We are very confident that there will be no change whatsoever to the WorldCup programme where we will be hosting Australia, England, India, Pakistan,Namibia and Holland. The ACB have limited their focus to the tour, whichwas due next month, and not the World Cup.”Chingoka was not willing or able to reveal the amount of revenue thatZimbabwe stands to lose following the late withdrawal from the tour byAustralia. “It’s quite a substantial amount of money but I can’t reveal theactual figures. It’s a significant amount, which would have gone to lookingafter the national team players, and also we were hoping to use part of theproceeds from the tour to accelerate our development programme.”Our agent had already worked on the tour itself with regard to televisionrights and there is obviously a negative impact if we are not able torestore the tour. There is also a question of our sponsors, team sponsorsand the series sponsors that we have to address, and various organizationsthat had also made commitments for boundary-board advertising and otheractivities. So there is a big impact on us financially.”Zimbabwe had made four overseas tours since their last home series and theZCU had been banking on the Australia series to make up for the expenditureincurred over the past five months. The national team has been to Sharjah,Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India since hosting England in a five-matchone-day series in October last year.There had not been any tour arranged for Zimbabwe between May and Octoberwhen the Pakistani cricket team is expected. Chingoka was pessimistic abouttrying to get a replacement series.”My office is currently looking at trying to come up with an alternativetour but it is with great difficulty. I believe that India will be touringthe West Indies, while Sri Lanka are in a triangular tournament with NewZealand and Pakistan. I am not quite sure with the Bangladeshi commitmentsat the moment but England are definitely out of question. Their owndomestic season is due to start soon and they normally do not like to makechanges to their programme.”
