Zimbabwe Cricket governing board to be reinstated following court order

Zimbabwe have recently been replaced in the WT20 and WWT20 qualifiers. © Getty

Zimbabwe's Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has decided to reinstate Zimbabwe Cricket's suspended governing board, which it had replaced by an interim committee last month. The move led to the cricket board's suspension by the ICC, which deemed it as "political interference". ZC was given an October 8 deadline to "unconditionally reinstate" the governing board led by Tavengwa Mukuhlani.

"Accordingly, and pursuant to the said court order, the SRC hereby lifts the suspension of the directors of ZC, including that of the acting managing director [Givemore Makoni], with immediate effect," read the statement released by SRC on August 8. "The interim committee accordingly ceases to administer the affairs of Zimbabwe Cricket forthwith."

The decision by SRC follows a court order that came about after the suspended directors of ZC appealed the decision in the administrative court of Zimbabwe. The reinstatement of Mukuhlani and others paves the way for Zimbabwe's inclusion back into the international fold. The ICC will convene for its next meeting on October 12, four days after the deadline for Zimbabwe ends.

In a July 24 letter, the ICC had warned about a possible termination if Zimbabwe Cricket fail to find a way back to the democratically elected board. "Should the ICC not receive a satisfactory response from you on the above terms, within the stipulated time frame, the ICC reserves its right to take such further action as it deems appropriate including to proceed by way of termination of your membership as provided for in the Articles of Association," the ICC letter read.

Zimbabwe, with their full member rights suspended, have already lost on on berths in the upcoming World T20 qualifiers. Nigeria replaced them in the Men's qualifiers whereas Namibia replaced them in the Women's qualifiers. Besides that, Zimbabwe's domestic competitions were also put on hold due to frozen funds but the news of their participation in the triangular series in Bangladesh, which earlier looked doubtful, came as a huge boost.