The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket will only consider Sikandar Raza after the tours to South Africa as well as Bangladesh since the all rounder walked out of his central contract in July.
Givemore Makoni, the ZC acting managing director said Raza terminated his contract which was expiring at the end of last month when he was denied a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to play in the Global Twenty20 League in Canada, therefore his case will only be looked at after the two tours. ZC had refused to give Raza the NOC on the basis that the national team was in camp preparing for the visits to Zimbabwe by Australia and Pakistan.
“He terminated his own contract in July, he applied for an NOC to play in Canada when the national team was in camp preparing for the Tri-series, it was denied and he then went without ZC approval. We insisted that he be part of the camp. He told the team manager that he was terminating his contract and left for Canada,’’ Makoni said.
Raza posted on Twitter last Friday that his agent had been informed by Makoni that he was not being considered for a contract. That means the all rounder, Zimbabwe’s leading run scorer in Tests and One Day Internationals last season will not be part of the team when the Chevrons travel to South Africa at the end of September as well as the tour to Bangladesh.
“His agent wrote to us and we informed him that at a meeting we held on 4 September it was decided that Raza’s case will only be looked at after the tours to South Africa and Bangladesh. Raza will not be picked for South Africa and Bangladesh. We don’t want to pick someone when we are not even sure if he is available. When we were discussing new contracts we didn’t consider him because of the way he did things,’’ he said.
Makoni made it clear that Raza is not bigger than the national team because former captains Brendan Taylor and Graeme Cremer accepted decisions to turn down their NOC applications when they wanted to go play cricket abroad.
Angry cricket have fans have taken to social media demanding that Raza be brought back to the national team. It is to be seen if ZC give in to the demands from the fans or stick to their decision to consider the player after the two tours. — @Mdawini_29
