Deadline for overthrow of Mugabe deferred by a year
The problem of whether the Black Caps should tour Zimbabwe, pull out of the tour and face penalties or be forbidden from touring by the government has gone away, at least for a year. It seems that NZC and Zimbabwe Cricket have agreed to postpone the tour until next year.
That is hardly a satisfactory solution, but given the significant consequences of the other options, it is welcome.
A bit of editorialising in the Cricinfo article I linked to suggests that by next year Mugabe might be out of power. That idea quite seriously underestimates Mugabe’s ability to survive (who thought he would still be here after his defeat in last year’s election?), but it is true that it would solve the problem as far as cricket is concerned. Zimbabwe won’t be free from Mugabe and his legacy unless and until there is recompense for the victims of Mugabe’s crimes, but that is not an issue for cricket to worry about. (There is still the issue of corruption within Zimbabwe Cricket, but that is an issue for the ICC.)
