Twelve White Zimbabwe cricketers are to sue the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) after being sacked and will issue a writ in a few days time alleging breach of contract.The players’ legal representative Chris Venturas confirmed that the players will go to court over yesterday’s sackings after the ZCU decided they had violated an ultimatum laid down by the governing body ordering them to make themselves available for selection.“We are taking them (ZCU) to court over this,” Venturas said yesterday. “We were just finalising our letter to the ZCU agreeing a mediation on the dispute when they dropped this bombshell on us. We decided right away we would go the distance and an advocate will be briefed as soon as possible.”“We knew about their ultimatum to return to duties by May 7 but this was a shock in view of our impending written acceptance of mediation, which we were going to deliver on Tuesday morning and which they knew was going to happen,” he addedThe ultimatum was given to the players three weeks ago by ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka, who told them if they didn’t resume practice and make themselves available for selection by May 7 action would be taken against them. A statement issued by the ZCU said the sacking was because the players had failed to respect the ultimatum.“As a result the contracts of these 15 players have been terminated,” it stated.In practice, however, there are only 12 cricketers involved as three have already gone overseas seeking employment.
