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It's looking increasingly likely that Zimbabwe will avoid any suspension or sanction at this week's ICC board meeting. Needing 4 votes from Full Members - including their own - to keep their status, ZC have already been promised the support of both Pakistan and India, who have declared their view that sport and politics should not be mixed. That leaves Zimbabwe needing just one more vote - which would probably need to come from either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh - to avoid sanction.

That's quite a turnaround from the situation a few days ago, when suspension seemed the only possible outcome. There are still a few days to go, though, and that's plenty of time for the situation to change again...

Following on from their suspension of bi-lateral ties with Zimbabwe, the England & Wales Cricket Board, through their chairman Giles Clarke, is now pushing for the full suspension of Zimbabwe from all international cricket. The Indian board, a long-time supporter of ZC, is seen as key to securing any suspension - BCCI chairman Sharad Pawar has been in London this week and has held discussions on the matter with Clarke, but at this stage it seems unlikely that India would support any such moves:

"We have always supported Zimbabwe cricket and have nothing to do with the political situation there," a senior BCCI official told Cricinfo. "In fact, we are a bit surprised that the issue has been brought up once again since the ICC board had discussed this last year and decided clearly that politics and cricket can't be mixed. The BCCI believes that a country's politics and its cricket don't go together. There is no reason to change our stand now."

Any resolution to suspend Zimbabwe would require the vote of 7 of the ICC's 10 Full Member boards - with Zimbabwe (obviously) and India set to vote against suspension, ZC would need the support of 2 more boards to save their future, and in doing so plunge the ICC into something of a political nightmare. What I wouldn't give for ringside seats to next week's ICC board meeting...
Cricket365 - ECB Looking For Zim Expulsion
CricInfo - India likely to back Zimbabwe

CricInfo report that India's tour to Zimbabwe, scheduled for June in the ICC's Future Tours Programme, has been shelved indefinitely. According to the BCCI, the decision was by "mutual consent", but given that as late as Monday (7th April) ZC were still stating that the tour was on, there's speculation that ZC didn't get much say in the decision.

It's not much of a surprise, though - the tour conflicts with the inaugral IPL season, which meant that even if India had honoured the fixture, they would have been sending a second-string side at best. Unfortunately, this leaves Zimbabwe with a huge hole in their fixture list, with no competitive matches scheduled between the end of the Logan Cup in May and the scheduled visit of Sri Lanka in November.
CricInfo - India indefinitely postpone Zimbabwe tour

The ICC have announced the groupings for the 2009 World Twenty20 tournament, to be held in England. The groups have been based on the results of the 2007 edition, and on paper Zimbabwe (seeded 9) seem to have been handed a reasonable draw, taking part in Group A alongside current champions India (seeded 1) and Bangladesh (seeded 8 ). Groups have been announced this early to allow the ECB to begin the scheduling process.
CricInfo - Groupings for World Twenty20 2009 fixed

A truly dismal batting performance by Zimbabwe Select, and 10 wickets taken by Piyush Chawla, ensure India 'A' secured a huge win in Bulawayo and took a 2-0 series win, with Zimbabwe failing to put any pressure on the visitors at any stage. Batting first, India racked up 524/8 before declaring, with centuries by Pujara, Patel and Badrinath. In reply, Zimbabwe progressed to 45 safely enough, before losing three quick wickets (Masakadza, Sibanda and Mawoyo) for no further runs. Of the remaining batsmen, only captain Utseya passed the 20-run mark, and Zimbabwe were forced to follow on after reaching only 143.

Zimbabwe's second innings was, if anything, even worse than the first. Hamilton Masakadza managed to reach 73, and Tino Mawoyo finally got some runs on the board with 33, but the rest of the innings was truly woeful, with Sibanda, Utseya, Chigumbura, Brent, Rainsford and Mpofu all failing to score, as Zimbabwe were bowled out a second time for 148.

Scorecard below the cut, which speaks for itself really. A truly horrendous performance.
India 524/8 (Patel 126, Rainsford 4/100), Zimbabwe 143 (Utseya 26, Chawla 4/12) & 148 (Masakadza 73, Chawla 6/46). India win by an innings and 223 runs, win series 2-0.

India 'A' tied up an easy win over Zimbabwe Select on Friday, after another poor batting performance by Zimbabwe in their second innings (following-on) left India needing only 66 from their second innings to secure the match by 9 wickets. Zimbabwe began the final day on 15/1, needing to bat out the day to secure a draw, but some excellent bowling by Piyush Chalwa made sure that didn't happen. A 108-run partnership by Taibu and Sibanda early in the day had given Zim some hope, but Chalwa's four wickets for just 40 runs conceded proved to be the nail in Zimbabwe's coffin.

Zim struggled with both bat and ball in this match. Tatenda Taibu's 1st-innings 123 was a great way for him to mark his return to the side, and is a good indication of what Zimbabwe needs if they're to improve - experienced players. Unfortunately, there's no sign of anyone else returning to the side at the moment. Prosper Utseya and Vusi Sibanda also put in decent knocks along the way, but without much support from the rest of the side. With the ball, Zimbabwe were reasonably economical - great in a one-day game, but not so much in a 4-day game where you really need to bowl your opponents out, and in that area Zimbabwe struggled, allowing India to build a large 1st-innings lead that made India's eventual run-chase that much easier. Full scorecard below the cut.

The 2nd match begins in Bulawayo on Monday. Terence Duffin, who missed the first match with a cold, is expected to replace Tino Mawoyo, after Mawoyo failed to do much with the bat. Graeme Cremer is also expected to miss out after Zim's spinners struggled against the Indians.
India A 489 (Uthappa 88, Rainsford 3/82) & 69/1 (Pathan 39*, Brent 1/27), Zimbabwe Select 338 (Taibu 123, Chalwa 4/40) & 216 (Sibanda 69, Chalwa 4/30). India A win by 9 wickets, lead series 1-0 with 1 to play.

India 489 (Uthappa 88, Rainsford 3/82), Zimbabwe 338 (Taibu 123, Piyush Chawla 4/40) & 15/1 (following on - Masakadza 8*, Singh 1/5)
Taibu's century - and a respectable 53 from Utseya - weren't enough to save Zimbabwe from the follow-on, and their second innings got off to the worst possible start with the dismissal of Mawoyo before there were any runs on the board.

Zimbabwe now trail by 136 runs. A win is pretty much out of the question - ideally Zimbabwe will need to bat out the full day on Friday to secure a draw, but given their batting form so far in this match that's not going to be easy.

India 489 (Uthappa 88, Rainsford 3/82), Zimbabwe 129/4 (Masakadza 38, Singh 1/12).
Zimbabwe facing the follow-on unless their remaining batsmen can do a lot better than the top order. India were dismissed just after lunch, after treating Zim's spinners with disdain to build a good total for their innings. In reply, Zimbabwe started off confidently enough, but with wickets falling at regular intervals after Tino Mawoyo's dismissal (45/1), things weren't looking too good by close of play.

A scorecard for the match so far was published in today's Herald, but there are a number of glaring inconsistencies in it so I'm not got to reproduce it here. Hopefully an accurate card will make an appearance before too long.

India 331/5 (Uthappa 88, Patel 67, Sharma 65, Kaif 63), Zimbabwe yet to bat.
India won the toss and elected to bat, and proceeded to make the most of their time in the middle - although it will be a frustration for the visitors that none of their batsmen have so far been able to score a century. Utseya (2), Chigumbura (2) and Mpofu (1) were the wicket-takers for Zimbabwe, while Tatenda Taibu marked his return to the side by taking the catch that removed Kaif. On the downside, Zim's fielding has been less than impressive, with 5 dropped catches over the course of the day.

India's 'A' squad have arrived in Harare for their 2-match series against Zimbabwe Select. The first match begins today (24th) in Harare, with the second match beginning in Bulawayo on July 30th. The Indian squad is:

Mohammad Kaif (captain), S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Yo Mahesh, Pragyan Ojha, Niraj Patel, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Rajesh Pawar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mahesh Rawat, Rohit Sharma, Pankaj Singh, VRV Singh, Robin Uthappa, Arjun Yadav
CricInfo - India's next generation arrives in Harare