Agence France Presse

Harare, May 11:

Twelve white Zimbabwe cricketers are to sue the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) after being sacked on Monday 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 the 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. 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,” said Venturas.

“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 added.

The ultimatum was given to the players three weeks ago by Zimbabwe Ccricket Union 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.