Zimbabwe cricketers left heartbroken after ICC suspend Zimbabwe Cricket due to breach of constitution
Zimbabwe cricketer Sikandar Raza and former captain Brendan Taylor expressed their disappointment after the International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Zimbabwe cricket due to breach of its constitution.
Raza and Taylor took to Twitter to express themselves and slammed the ICC and Zimbabwe Cricket for the unemployment created due to the decision taken.
"How one decision has made a team, strangers, how one decision has made so many people unemployed, how one decision affect so many families, how one decision has ended so many careers. Certainly not how I wanted to say goodbye to international cricket," tweeted Raza.
"It's heartbreaking to hear your verdict and suspend cricket in Zimbabwe. The @ZimbabweSrc has no government back round yet our Chairman is an MP? Hundreds of honest people, players, support staff, ground staff totally devoted to ZC out of a job, just like that," tweeted Taylor.
Zimbabwe was suspended from international cricket on Thursday because of government interference.
The International Cricket Council said it was also freezing all funding to the southern African country, which is a test-playing nation and full member of the ICC.
The ban will be in place until at least October, when the ICC will meet again to reconsider Zimbabwe's status.
Zimbabwe is due to play in World Twenty20 qualifiers in October but its participation is in doubt for that tournament.
Zimbabwe was suspended after the government-run sports and recreation commission removed the cricket board last month and installed temporary leadership. The commission acted after alleging corruption in Zimbabwe cricket but the ICC viewed it as government interference, which is against the world body's rules.
The ICC announced its decision after its board met in London. Zimbabwe's cricket officials must be reinstated within three months for the suspension to be lifted.
"We do not take the decision to suspend a member lightly, but we must keep our sport free from political interference," ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar said in a statement. "What has happened in Zimbabwe is a serious breach of the ICC constitution and we cannot allow it to continue unchecked.
"The ICC wants cricket to continue in Zimbabwe in accordance with the ICC constitution."
Croatia and Zambia were also suspended while Morocco's cricket body was expelled for continually failing to meet membership criteria relating to the way its finances are organized.
(With inputs from AP)
