At its annual conference in London, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) board passed a unanimous decision to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket with immediate effect.
The reasoning behind the decision is that the country, which has till now been a full member of the body, has failed to conduct a democratic process of free and fair elections to its cricket administration. Moreover, each member country has to ensure that political interference doesn’t take place.
“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,” said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar.
The suspension means that all ICC funding for the Zimbabwean cricket board will be cut off, and the country will not be allowed to take part in any ICC events in the future.
Only last month, the country’s cricket board had been dissolved by the government of Zimbabwe. The politics of the sub-saharan African nation tend to be unstable, with long-time dictator Robert Mugabe having been overthrown by the army in a coup in 2017.
