Zimbabwean cricket crisis

Cricket in Zimbabwe suffered a crisis that lasted from 2003 to 2011 where player withdrawals such as the "Black-armband protest" by Andy Flower and Henry Olonga along with a mass loss of players in 2004 due to a general strike resulted in very poor performances by the national team. Presently Zimbabwe is in the period of rebuilding itself as the domestic structure was re-structured in 2009. Many people allege that the administration of cricket in Zimbabwe was corrupted by the influence of Robert Mugabe's government, who were widely accused of following racist, in particular anti-white, policies. Positive signs began to emerge for Zimbabwe after the 2007 Cricket World Cup especially when in the 2007 World Twenty20 Zimbabwe defeated what was arguably the strongest side in the world at the time, Australia. Along with this Zimbabwe gradually began to show encouraging signs of improvement and four years later they returned to the highest format of the game, Test Cricket. In their first match since their return in August 2011 they comprehensively defeated Bangladesh.