HARARE - Zimbabwe's cricketers have agreed to end their boycott to pave way for World Twenty20 preparations ahead of the tournament in Bangladesh next month after they were assured payment by at least next week.
The Zimbabwe Cricket board at the weekend promised to pay outstanding dues owed to the striking player before February 10 after securing a loan from the International Cricket Council (ICC), local and international media reported this week.
And now, the national provisional squad for the World Twenty20 will now begin preparations at Harare Sports Club today after two months of inactivity.
National team coach Andy Waller said he was “relieved” by the development.
"Obviously I'm relieved that at least we can get on with the core business, we are starting training tomorrow (today) as a squad," Waller told the Daily News yesterday.
"We will begin with fielding practise in the morning and then fitness training in the afternoon while we wait for the nets to be prepared before we venture into that area."
Waller bemoaned the amount of time lost following the dispute between ZC and the players. The former Zimbabwe international, however, remained hopeful that his team will do its best with the little time left.
"We lost quite a substantial amount of time that we could have used to work on a few areas, but we still got six weeks, which can give us plenty of time to prepare for the World T20," said Waller.
"I set ourselves a target to be ranked number eight in the ODIs by the 2015 World Cup; I'm not going to let it go, I still believe I have got the players who are capable and that means we have got plenty of work to do this year if we are going achieve that feat."
Domestic cricket came to a standstill in December when both provincial and national players unanimously resorted to industrial action in a desperate bid to make ZC meet its end of the bargain.