No team can ever have gone into a cricket World Cup trying to concentrate on their game against a backdrop of strikes, squabbles and a vicious battle for control of the sport.

By making it to the Caribbean, Zimbabwe have at least earned a victory of sorts.

Four years on from the widely-applauded "death of democracy" protest staged by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, Zimbabwe have had to place their faith in raw youth at the 2007 World Cup.

With one exception, it is a team purged of all the players who featured in the 2003 editon.

Since that time, Test status has been lost and the team has been hammered pillar to post in a succession of desperately one-sided, one-day games.

The team has seen the sudden sacking, in mid-Test, of their genial coach West Indian Phil Simmons.

Their former captain, Tatenda Taibu, quit and plays now in Namibia.

An ICC tribunal, headed by eminent lawyers from South Africa and India, was set up, but players felt they were unable to give evidence in fear of the repercussions.

The problems of Zimbabwe cricket are not new.

Since early April 1994, there has been a swirl of racial issues, allegations of theft, corruption, incompetence, power manipulation and the occasional legal challenge against Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) chairman Peter Chingoka and his managing director Ozias Bvute.

There has been a long-running campaign to have these two administrators removed.

Some 18 months ago, rebel players all stated publicly at a joint media conference that they would never play under Chingoka and Bvute.

Most have held to that; others have decided to return to the squad, largely because of poverty and parental pressures, they say.

Some senior players claim they have been intimidated and harassed.

Dion Ebrahim was reportedly arrested and jailed because he failed to return a sponsored car.

Many players claim they are still owed money, in some cases into the thousands of US dollars.

Taibu says he is owed 28,000 dollars; fast bowler Andy Blignaut, at least twice that.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) have been criticised for their perceived lack of intervention.

But Percy Sonn, the ICC president, and his chief executive Malcolm Speed, made a formal visit to Zimbabwe early last year, partly to hear the players' long-standing grievances.

They also heard the ZC argument for retaining their positions.

Zimbabwe had been a Test playing country since 1992 after they won the ICC Trophy three years in succession and could hardly be kept out any longer despite objections at the time by England and Australia.

However, some 18 months ago they lost full ICC membership after both Sri Lanka and India each beat them twice by an innings followed by Australia and England refusing to play Tests against them.

Instead, Zimbabwe have played a sequence of one-day internationals, mostly against Kenya, Bangladesh and other countries of similar standard. And the result? Fifteen of the last 16 matches lost.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)