Olonga joins 145;scrap Aussie tour146; chorus

Zimbabwe cricket has plunged into a crisis after 15 senior players went on strike to protest the sacking of Heath Streak as captain as well as the racially biased selection policy of the national board.

The ICC has called for an emergency meeting of its executive board in London tomorrow to decide whether the matches to be played should be stripped of Test status, sparking nation-wide calls for abandoning the tour.

But Olonga said the motive of the ICC meeting should have been moral one rather than cricketing. 8220;The motives for the meeting are not as pure as they could8217;ve been. Any reasonable, intelligent person will know that this tour shouldn8217;t carry on,8221; Olonga said.

Joining Olonga in asking the Australians to return home were former players Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Kerry O8217;Keefe. 8220;They went there on the understanding they were going to play Test matches. If the goalposts have moved, what8217;s the point of being there,8221; asked Lillee.

Keefe said the ICC has once again failed to act on time. 8220;For years a lot of former players have put the slipper into the ICC for good reasons. Again they seem to have sat on their hands.8221;

Chappell said, 8220;Unfortunately, I think it8217;s a wider issue than cricket. The only similarity I can think of is South Africa 30 years ago and really the only way it could be sorted out was through change of politics, a change of attitudes at that level.8221;