by PHILIP SPOONER

JUST A WEEK after promising the West Indies Cricket Board a team would be coming to the Caribbean for Test matches later this year, the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZC) has had a change of mind.

Yesterday the international media reported that ZC's government-appointed interim committee decided that they would be pulling out of Test cricket until February 2007.

This means they will not be coming to the Caribbean for two Test matches. The games were to be played in Guyana (April 20-24) and Trinidad (April 28 to May 2). It is not sure if they will come for the five One-Day Internationals.

The news, however, was a massive blow for West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which was putting plans in place for the trip.

"Just like you, we have just been made aware of the developments in Zimbabwe and we are now looking at the impact it will have," WICB's chief executive Roger Brathwaite said from his office in Antigua yesterday afternoon.

"I have to say it is quite disappointing. We are assessing the impact, and we are not sure if we will have the One-Dayers or if there will be a full pull-out."

Full financial impact

Brathwaite said the full financial impact could be assessed as yet either. He however said the most pressing areas of concern were the WICB's commitments to sponsors and television rights holders.

The ZC's statement shocked the cricket world. Only last week, chairman Peter Chingoka assured WICB representative Tony Marshall that it would undertake a full tour at a meeting of the International Cricket Council in Pakistan.

At the ZC's meeting yesterday the new panel was expected to appoint a new captain to replace Tatenda Taibu, who resigned three months ago after threats and moved to Bangladesh.

But ZC deferred naming a captain and vice-captain until it resolved a long-standing dispute with 37 of the country's remaining leading players.

The ZC's statement read in part: "The decision to suspend its participation in Test matches was reached by ZC after consideration of the recent performances by the national and 'A' teams," Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement issued after a meeting.

"The Zimbabwe cricket team will then only resume its full programme during the tour to Sri Lanka in February 2007, subject to the finalisation of the Future Tours Programme for which the chief executives are meeting in Dubai next month."