The crisis in Zimbabwean cricket, and in the country as a whole, remainedunresolved and unimproved at the end of 2005, another miserable year. In2004, a player rebellion sparked by the sacking of national captain HeathStreak had weakened the side so badly that the ICC had temporarilysuspended Zimbabwe’s Test programme. They returned in January 2005.But their defeats grew ever more painful, and a brief attempt atreconciliation with the rebels was overtaken by a wider mutiny, this timeled by Streak’s young black successor, Tatenda Taibu. In November, Taiburesigned, and by January 2006 the government of Robert Mugabe – still inpower despite global contempt for his regime – had replaced ZimbabweCricket’s strife-ridden board with an interim committee, which announceda further 12-month withdrawal from Test status.The country’s first break from Test cricket ended with a trip to Bangladesh,the newest and until then weakest Test nation. But the Zimbabweans wereleft holding the wooden spoon as Bangladesh recorded their first Test victory,by 226 runs, and followed up with their first series wins in both Test andone-day cricket. Returning to Africa, Zimbabwe lost their next five Tests -against South Africa, New Zealand and India – by an innings, and a sixthby ten wickets. Only one of those games limped into the fourth morning,and two never reached the third. Having won their first two one-day gamesin Bangladesh, they lost ten in a row by September. The A-team, whichtended to overlap significantly with the supposedly senior side, did littlebetter.Consistent humiliation on the field was only the most obvious sign of thedeteriorating situation. Early in 2005, the player rebellion appeared to havecollapsed. Streak, Zimbabwe’s one world-class player after Andy Flower’sprotest at “the death of democracy” led to his departure in 2003, returnedafter lengthy negotiations with ZC, apparently without consulting the otherrebels who had withdrawn in his support. Some were disappointed. The weekthat Streak declared his availability, his family ranch was removed from alist of farms designated for government confiscation. It seemed he had beenpresented with an offer he could not refuse, for his family’s sake.Streak was rushed to South Africa, in time to join the team in the finalone-day international. He scored more runs in one innings than any of hiscolleagues managed over three, but Zimbabwe still lost. Another rebel, AndyBlignaut, who had failed to forge a new career with Tasmania, was hurriedback alongside Streak for the two Tests, despite being far from match-fit.ZC was clearly desperate. Blignaut managed a couple of fifties, but neitherhe nor Streak could make their team competitive.Of the other rebels, Gavin Ewing and Barney Rogers had already returned,and four more, Stuart Carlisle, Craig Wishart, Trevor Gripper and NeilFerreira, agreed to a provisional deal after changes in the running of cricketwere promised. ZC chairman Peter Chingoka declared the player rebellionover. Grant Flower, however, stayed away. He had secured a future with hisbrother at Essex and insisted nothing had really changed. Five others decidedeither not to return or to wait and see, most notably Sean Ervine andRaymond Price, who also found a haven in county cricket. And in October2005, Streak announced his retirement from international cricket in order tocaptain Warwickshire.The changes demanded by the rebel players had centred on the constitutionof the ZC Board and on selection policy. In particular, they objected to twoboard members, Maqsood Ebrahim and Ozias Bvute, believing them to bepolitical activists with no significant cricketing background, uninterested inthe good of the game. But by November a split between the two had appeared:Ebrahim, the chairman of selectors, said that ZC was trying to remove himas chairman of Masvingo province, while ZC accused him of racism.The enigmatic Bvute had become a board member in 2000, when anintegration task force was introduced, and since then he had workedceaselessly to expand his influence. He took over as managing director inlate 2004, resigning his place on the board. Theoretically, this made him theboard’s employee, but this was not how it looked. Opinions differed as towhether Bvute had a genuine political power base or was simply a veryclever opportunist exploiting a national climate of fear. He often displayedgreat charm, personality and enough charisma to win over opponents. Buthis aim was confrontation. His determination to remove all opposition wasin line with his government’s policy, as was the ridiculous assertion that thewelfare of Zimbabwean cricket was being sabotaged by a few recalcitrantwhites. When the Mashonaland clubs, including the black club Takashinga,rebelled, he crushed the revolt, closing the Mashonaland Cricket Associationoffices and calling in the police to arrest the officials on fraud charges. Mostwere later released and restored to their posts.One thing Bvute could not control, however, was the performance of hisnational team. In the late 1990s, Zimbabwe had been respected battlers,renowned for punching above their weight in world cricket. As black playersof quality emerged and cricket began to gain national interest, the sportshould have increased in depth and strength. Instead, politics took a sinistergrip. Inevitably, some whites wanted to maintain their dominance, but thiswas not common. More common was resentment of any success gained bya white-dominated team coming from people who were not prepared to waitfor transformation to occur naturally.The ICC’s response to the Zimbabwean crisis may not have been as feebleas it appeared: it is impossible to believe that Bvute would have countenancedthe rebels’ return on any terms but total surrender had he not been put underextreme pressure. There was talk of demoting Zimbabwe and Bangladeshto a lower tier of Test sides, or restricting them to occasional Test series athome, until they showed they could compete. It seems likely that thesethreats forced Bvute to negotiate.But as 2005 wore on, the controversies multiplied. In August, Phil Simmons, the national side’s West Indian coach, was sacked during a visit from New Zealand, who inflicted Zimbabwe’s heaviest Test defeat. He was replaced by Kevin Curran, a (white) former Zimbabwean international. The players signed a petition stating that Simmons’s dismissal was “unjust, unfair and not in the best interests of Zimbabwe cricket”; he went to court to challenge it, while ZC tried to have him deported.Hitherto, the black players in the national side (with the conspicuousexception of Henry Olonga) had been reluctant to protest. Most come fromthe townships; cricket has opened the door to success for them, and opposingZC could mean a return to the ghetto. But they were clearly affected by thecontroversy between ZC and the Mashonaland administration: morale wasso low during the concurrent one-day tournament that the Mashonaland team,which provides the bulk of the national side and won the first-class LoganCup for a sixth successive season, finished bottom. The near-unanimousprotest over Simmons’s dismissal showed their growing unhappiness.In November, the players, headed by Taibu, held a press conference tocall for the resignation of Chingoka and the suspension of Bvute. Thechairmen of the provincial associations backed up the team and demandedexplanations of “unusual financial dealings” by the board. Rumours ofirregular foreign-currency dealings were fuelled when officials of the ReserveBank of Zimbabwe raided the ZC premises. That the board was in financialcrisis was clear from the fact that the players were still awaiting pay fromthe series with New Zealand, held in August.”If we don’t do anything, cricket in Zimbabwe will die within a year,”said Taibu. Afterwards, he was reported to have responded to threats fromboard officials by taking his wife and young child into hiding. The threatof another strike appeared to recede when ZC announced it had agreed theterms of contracts with the players. But by the end of the month, Taibu hadresigned the captaincy and announced his retirement from the game inZimbabwe, though he made it clear he would return if the situation improved.In the meantime, he went to Bangladesh to play club cricket. It seemed that Chingoka and Bvute might be forced out when they were arrested on suspicion of contravening the law on currency exchange, and board vice-chairman Ahmed Ebrahim called an emergency meeting. But Chingoka and Bvute were soon released. Finally, the government took direct control. The board was dissolved, and the white and Asian directors sacked, while Chingoka, despite criticism of his administration in a government report, was retained as chairman of an interim committee. Bvute apparently remained too. The players, who had said they would no longer tour unless their contracts were agreed, their pay handed over and Chingoka removed, subsequently agreed to end their strike in the hope of getting paid, but threatened to withdraw again if they were not satisfied. With the decision to surrender Test status, they would be playing only one-day internationals, in any case, and New Zealand had quietly dropped the return tour when their government indicated it would not issue the Zimbabweans visas.The ICC described Zimbabwe’s withdrawal as “sensible”, but said therewere still many issues the interim committee needed to resolve. The ICCalso continued to insist that it would not interfere in the country’s internalaffairs, to the bemusement of cricket-lovers inside and outside Zimbabwe.Yet for a small country, Zimbabwe still had a wealth of talent, which wasbeing exploited and abused in criminal fashion. Taibu, who turned 22 inMay, proved himself a player of genuine international class. He did hiscountry proud, holding the batting together, keeping wicket well, andcaptaining a losing side without despair, always offering a smile and aphilosophical approach at post-match interviews. He was criticised for a lackof imagination and tactical awareness, but he rarely had any old hands tohelp him with advice – he was often Zimbabwe’s most experienced player.Dion Ebrahim, a gritty batsman and a superb fielder, lost form, whileDouglas Hondo was plagued by injury and inconsistency. One bright spot,however, was the return of Hamilton Masakadza after three years at a SouthAfrican university. A couple of fine innings showed he still had greatpotential, but he too needed to find consistency. Opening batsman StuartMatsikenyeri had more ability than runs or discipline, while Vusi Sibandaagain wasted his abundant gifts.Among the even younger players, Tinashe Panyangara was prone to injury,Brendan Taylor earned a six-month ban for disciplinary offences, and EltonChigumbura lacked the experience to back up his talent. Pace bowler ChrisMpofu and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer were promising newcomers, butstruggled in a decimated team. Prosper Utseya had a remarkable economyrateof less than four an over in one-day internationals, apart from onehammering in South Africa, but could not take wickets in any form of thegame. Off-spinning all-rounder Stuart Williams, another Under-19 player,showed promise in the one-day games in South Africa.The standard of play in domestic cricket was low, but at least the firstclassLogan Cup was staged when the national players were available. Someof them showed they could play four-day cricket competently – as long asthe opposition was not too strong. The title went to Mashonaland for thesixth successive season. Led by Taibu, they won their first five matches byhandsome margins, before Manicaland turned the tables in the final game.Manicaland and Matabeleland won three games apiece, but Midlands lostall six matches. It was as well that the champions were so clear: it wasimpossible to get either a table or confirmation of the points system out ofZimbabwe Cricket.Taylor scored three centuries for Mashonaland, including a career-best193. Double-centuries were scored by his team-mate Carlisle, former rebelNeil Ferreira, for Manicaland, and Doug Marillier, who had withdrawn fromcricket for a year in disillusionment but returned for Midlands. The topdomestic bowler was Manicaland’s Blessing Mahwire, with 45 wickets. Hewas also an underrated batsman, but queries about his action the previousseason hindered his international career. Cremer, the hardest-working bowlerin the country, was the latest in a long line of quality Zimbabwean legspinners,and took 42 wickets.If the administration should ever be restored to those who care for cricket,and if Taibu and the other rebels come back, Zimbabwe could still becomea competitive side. But the point of no return cannot be too far away.