They might still be celebrating the “In-Fredible” second Test in
England, but in Harare the result of the first Test between Zimbabwe
and New
Zealand is raining on cricket’s parade.

Of the many political balls the International Cricket Council has
to constantly juggle, few have the potential to harm the sanctity of
the game’s statistical history
than permitting the continuing presence of the hopelessly outclassed Zimbabwe
as a full Test and one-day ICC member nation.

As one of the ten ICC affiliates afforded Test status, how can the
ICC continue to tolerate the kind of performance Zimbabwe produced in
Harare this week? The hosts were bowled out twice in a day with scores
of 59 and 99 chasing
the Kiwis’ first day total of 452 for 9 – to lose the match by an
innings and 294 runs.

It was the 19th time
cricket has recorded a two-day result (this match
went only 1,011 balls, well behind the record of 656 shared by Australia and South
Africa in Melbourne in 1931-32) and Zimbabwe is only the second side in history to be dismissed twice in one day.

Shane Warne has made a point of how little cricket he has played
against the Test minnows of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in acquiring easy wickets,
but there are plenty of players who are filling their statistical boots on the
back of outstanding batting or bowling efforts while playing Zimbabwe,
including Matthew Hayden setting his previous world’s highest Test score while
flaying them.

The longer this continues the more it is going to lead to the
corruption of measuring individual statistical performances for some of
cricket’s most cherished records – which until recently had been
contested on a more or less level playing field. On the indisputable
evidence being offered by Zimbabwe as to its
fitness to remain a Test-playing member of the ICC, Shane Warne has
every right
to feel aggrieved that others can inflate their career stats by
regularly
crossing paths with these African pretenders.

Cricinfo’s Managing Editor Martin Williamson asks all the right questions
after this latest fiasco when he wonders “How much longer must this go on?”:

So desperate are certain members of the ICC to keep Zimbabwe in
the fold – and the reasons are as much to with who supports who in a hugely
political environment – that all calls for their Test status to be reviewed are
flat batted by those who decide such things with a skill woefully lacking in
any of Zimbabwe’s batsmen yesterday. But Zimbabwe’s continued presence makes a
mockery of sport, and it has gone on long enough.

While cricket is alive and a wondrous thing in England right now,
Zimbabwe represents the flip side of a game that needs to get its house in
order.