The last time that the ICC offered an opinion on the Zimbabwe issue, they cited their own rules as justification of their inability to intervene. One of the most disturbing aspects of their recent repetition of this restriction is they now add that intervention is not only prevented, but it also is not the best way for the issue to be resolved.

The problem, they say, can only be fixed from within.

“If Zimbabwe is to reunite its fractured cricket community, the only lasting solution will come from within the Zimbabwe cricket community”

That argument would only hold true if the immune system in Zimbabwe was up to the task of fighting its own disease. However, Zimbabwe’s antibodies are on a permanent vacation and show no sign of booking a return flight home.

The ICC goes on to say, that a solution is;

“conditional on it having the support of Zimbabwe Cricket, an entirely necessary pre-condition if any progress is to be made”

This may well be true, but support can come in a number ways and for a number of reasons and not necessarily benevolent ones. The ICC could possibly find that Zimbabwe cricket supports a resolution from fear of the financial risks to its own survival if they failed to tow the line. Unfortunately the ICC is demonstrating a total reluctance to draw that line in the sand.

The tone of the latest ICC release would suggest they are recoiling from the criticisms that have been levelled against them over their stance on Zimbabwe. They have retaliated by pointing venom tipped fingers at their accusers from all angles, obtusely and cynically complaining that their critics have not offered up a detailed solution to the problem.

“The simplistic view expressed by some is that it is time for the ICC to roll up its sleeves, flex it muscles and get in and "fix it" - although how this is to be achieved is left, not surprisingly, vague.”

If the media, the fans, or the players sat on the board of the ICC then offering a solution would be their job. However we look to the ICC for such solutions, as is a reasonable expectation from the governing body of the sport.

The ICC says that their current stance is the unpopular one. Well they are on the money with that one at least. But they are trying to extract credibility from their unpopularity, by implying that the tough road they are taking is in the best interests of the game and to hell with those that don’t like their stringent stance.

Oh that this were true. The reality is that their vehicles are sitting stationary in the driveway and they are not taking any direction at all, and this is what is so infuriating about their recent release. They are unpopular because they are demonstrating detachment from the game in immeasurable quantities, not because they are striding boldly into a controversial solution.

The ICC has further suggested that its public critics are “playing to the audience” at the expense of any validity their critics may have when commenting on the ICC’s performance. Perhaps they will one day realise that the audience to which the critics are playing is the ICC itself and there is a desperation for them to watch the show.

The symptoms of institutional paralysis include a proliferation of lengthy speeches, a series of self serving media releases and ultimately an inability to cast relevance over the shadows of the problems the organisation is there to police. The diagnosis for the ICC is chronic.

Indeed it is. My problem with the ICC is that it only speaks. Another press release as you said and another ridiculous one at that. And speaking of institutional paralysis, the ICC isn't the only one suffering from this illness, it’s an epidemic seemingly. Inactiveness and down right incompetence is something common to cricket administrators at the highest levels in almost every cricket playing country in the world.

Find me a fan or journalist that is "happy" with its' cricket board's policies and I'll prove to you that Collin Miller's hair experiments weren't the most dubious in test cricket history - not impossible, but highly improbable. And coming to think of it, may be its some sort of twisted logic that us ordinary souls fail to comprehend. I can't actually think of a single, high profile, so called organisation that is competent in every sense of the word. The UN ? No. Various Governments? Not that either. Administrations of the educational institutions I successively attended? Certainly not. May be organisations and mess ups are supposed to go hand in hand. And we're asking for something that is against the laws of nature.

Having read the comments issued by the board, I believe it should be cited as textbook material for the demonstration of bureaucracy in action. There are the respectful allusions to Zimbabwe Cricket's soveriegnity; comparisons to similar situations in other countries, which in truth are like comparing tremors to a full-blown earthquake; and of course modest back-patting for doing what it should have done much earlier.
Forgive me for my cynicism, but when SA didn't play during apartheid, the ICC banned them under international pressure. I fear Zimbabwe will never garner that amount of international pressure politically. It is too poor, it is too small, and noone has had the decency to start a convenient civil war there so that the UN can intervene. The ICC can ban them right now, conditionally, with a period of time, say 6 months when a review will be conducted. It could refuse to allow Zimbabwe to have a seat or say in ICC committees. If it doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to do so, let it call a meeting of the heads of every board and Players' association in each country and vote on these matters.
Why? For the simple reason that the country's players have almost unanimously come out and condemned the present management. If they are serious about empowering players, then this issue requires mediation by a second party because, IMO, there seems to be no 'processes' working there at all . the matter needs to be dealt with as an emergency. There seem to be police raiding houses where the owners have absconded one day, and the next we hear that those same owners had a good night's sleep. Perhaps the only police worth paying attention to are those Scotland Yard types hunting for the players involved in match-fixing. Let the administrators of Zim Cricket take care of themselves.
If the ICC can't actively try and engage Zimbabwe Cricket with any effect immediately, it has already abdicated all responsibility toward this issue. It should formally wash it's hands clean of Zimbabwe cricket, and like Pontius Pilate, declare itself innocent of all possible wrong-doing. Perhaps it already has. Watching a burning ship burn is not a praiseworthy thing. It is the quiet, bureaucratic thing to do.
What a pity that Tatenda Taibu, a young captain, a rare talent with the bat or ball, may end his career in Bangladesh club cricket. What a pity that the ICC can uphold the spirit of the game while seeing it's body die in Zimbabwe. What a pity that we are told inaction is always the best course of action.
How dare the ICC tell us that they are only doing their job!!!