Zimbabwe forfeit hands Scotland cup final chance

SCOTLAND have been handed a surprise Intercontinental Cup reprieve, after Zimbabwe offered to forfeit the points from their controversial fixture.

The Scots faced elimination from the tournament after refusing to travel to Harare on UK government advice, which says that sporting tours by British teams send a positive signal, when not enough progress has been made in Zimbabwe on political reform and re-establishing the rule of law.

The match had originally been scheduled to take place in a neutral country but was later switched at the request of Cricket Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe then ousted Scotland from second place in the seven-team I-Cup table when they claimed a draw against Ireland earlier this week.

However, the African nation's offer - if approved by the ICC - will see Pete Steindl's side contest the final against Afghanistan in Dubai in November.

Zimbabwe's unexpected decision will be discussed at a meeting of the ICC's event technical committee on Monday and Cricket Scotland officials last night refused to speculate on the final outcome.

The ICC could still choose to impose a penalty on the Scots for their refusal to travel to Zimbabwe and chief executive Roddy Smith declared: "We will wait to see what the event technical committee decides.

"This is certainly an unexpected development and we have always said that the most important thing is for our players to get the chance to play for the Intercontinental Cup."

Ozias Bvute, managing director of Cricket Zimbabwe, last night confirmed the offer to forfeit the match.

In a statement he said: "If it meets with the approval of the ICC, it is our recommendation that Scotland be awarded the full points for this fixture, a move that will allow for them to proceed to the final.

"The Associate Members countries use this and other competitions to benchmark and track their progress.

"To this end we feel that the I-Cup is a significant competition in Scotland's development and therefore important that it gets the full benefits associated with playing in it. Moreover, given the limited playing opportunities available to them, it would be unnecessarily counterproductive to rob them of their right to participation or reduce their chances of reaching the final."

Bvute also denied Zimbabwe had requested the venue change, adding: "We accepted the invitation by the ICC to participate in this tournament and at no time did we advocate that the game be played in Zimbabwe, instead the venue of the fixture was decided by the ICC."