Tuesday, 17th April 2007 at 9:49 am

Zimbabwean cricket sinks further

Memories of Andy Flower and Henry Olonga’s famous protest at the last World Cup have faded, and interest in the downward spiral of Zimbabwean cricket has waned, mismanagement and player exodus becoming too familiar a tale to attract new attention. But while there’s little surprise in the latest two departures, there’s still an inherent sadness to them, particularly in the case of Vusi Sibanda.

Sibanda, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, has left international cricket (and an upcoming series against Australia), and joined a club team in Sydney, the politics of the game in Zimbabwe just too much for him. That a club side in a foreign country has becoming more appealing than a spot in the top order of an international side is a telling indictment on Zimbabwean cricket, particularly when you consider that Sibanda is only 23.

That’s a year older than Anthony Ireland, however, the promising seamer who has also retired from Zimbabwe’s ranks, signing a two-year Kolpak deal with Gloucestershire in the County Championship (which is about to get underway). Ireland was particularly candid in an exclusive with Cricinfo about the behaviour of the infamous Zimbabwean cricket boss Ozias Bvute in the build-up to the World Cup, and so he’s off to play in England.

Zimbabwe has far greater problems than cricket, of course, but the sport reflects the country’s wider malaise - and the flickering interest in the game north of the border mirrors much of the official reaction to the state of Zimbabwe. Which, as long as it continues, is likely to ensure Zimbabwean cricket remains a pitiful shadow of what it once was.