London: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday gave 14 days to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) and the rebel players in which to settle their dispute.

At the end of ICC’s annual meeting, president Ehsan Mani said, “the rebel players and the ZCU must agree to a process on resolving their dispute within 14 days. If there is no agreement, the newly-elected ICC vice-president Percy Sonn and myself will make a final decision on application of the ICC’s Disputes Resolution process after this period.”

[That Sonn, a former United Cricket Board of South Africa chief, would be named vice-president, was reported by The Telegraph On Thursday. Sonn will succeed Mani as the ICC president in June 2005.]

Meanwhile, as was decided upon during ICC’s specially-convened Dubai summit on June 10, the ICC stuck to its decision to ‘debar’ Zimbabwe from playing Test matches till the end of the year while allowing it to continue playing one-dayers.

Also, the likelihood of an eminent person being appointed to probe allegations of racism against the ZCU, still stands.

Other decisions reached by the ICC are:

• All spin bowlers would have their actions scrutinised during the upcoming Champions Trophy

• The ten-year future tours programme is all set for a revamp, with the ICC on Thursday saying that it was seeking to put into place a “better model” which would take into account concerns over the workload on players

• Applications of three new countries — China, Mexico and the Isle of Man — were approved for affiliate membership. The total ICC membership strength now stands at 92 — Ten full members, 27 associate members and 55 affiliate members.