Zimbabwe players celebrating a wicket. PHOTO: SHAFIQ MALIK/ EXPRESS
The tour was the first by a Full Member nation after the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
According to the report, the individual payments were a part of the US$500,000 promised by the PCB to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) before the tour. The PCB didn’t provide any remarks on the financial payments to the ZC.
The Zimbabwe players are thought to have visited the country despite warning issues by the Sports and Recreations Committee of Zimbabwe government.
The reported amount paid to the Zimbabwe cricketers is much more than the maximum allocated for nationally contracted players at US$6,500. The players still haven't been paid their dues for the 2015 World Cup, ESPNcricinfo reported.
The initial offer made by PCB, according to an inside source quoted by ESPNcricinfo, was US$10,000 each. The ZC suspended the tour on May 14 citing the terrorist attack in Karachi, where more than 40 Ismailis were killed. But after a short delay, ZC withdrew their call and said the discussions were ongoing between the two boards. The source says it was at this time that PCB increased their offer to lure in the concerned players.
The money is understood to have been paid in two amounts, the first on arrival and the second before the departure of the players. An ESPNcricinfo source also believes that some players negotiated for a higher amount. This arrangement can be understood as the reason the Zimbabwe players played the last ODI despite a blast outside the Gaddafi stadium during the second ODI, the website reported.
ZC is also reportedly believed to have benefitted from the deal, after a source revealed that Ozias Bvute - former managing director of ZC – played a role in securing the deals. It must be understood that he resigned from his post in July 2012 after an implication in the mismanagement of an International Cricket Council loan to the ZC. He then served as an adviser to the board.
Bvute joined the Zimbabwe team as the head of their delegation with ZC chairman Wilson Manase defending his role because of his experience in the country.
"Because of the terrain, I had to look back at the people we have in the administration who have the experience and I realised that Ozias Bvute has been to Pakistan before," Manase told NewsDay .
"Bvute was the most suitable candidate…We need someone like him who can understand what to do, what to say to the players among other things."
Despite the reports, Zimbabwe players gave positive reactions about their tour with Pakistan-born Sikandar Raza tweeting ‘we were welcomed with open arms, smiles and love’, while Craig Ervine said he was ‘loving the passion for cricket in Pakistan’ and thanked the PCB for the ‘hospitality and security over this tour’.
Over 3,500 security officials were deployed to look after the Zimbabwe team, whose only movement in Lahore was between the hotel and the Gaddafi stadium. They were due to go shopping the day before their final ODI but the trip was cancelled after the suicide attack.
The article originally appeared on ESPNcricinfo
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