Second threat hastened Taibu's decision

Tatenda Taibu: a second threat made against him © AFP

Tatenda Taibu, who turned his back on international cricket on Thursday, has revealed that he was again threatened by Zimbabwe Cricket's loose canon Themba Mliswa, this time face-to-face, prompting his decision to retire.

Taibu said he went to a Harare hotel for a meeting with Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket's chairman, and when he got there, Mliswa was also present. The two greeted each other and Mliswa said: "So this is the man in hiding." Chingoka told him to stop it.

Since he had never met Mliswa, Taibu only then realised this was the man who had threatened him and his wife on the phone. Taibu turned and walked away but Mliswa followed.

The pair then briefly talked, and Taibu told Mliswa that he never had any respect for him. At that, Mliswa made a more threatening remark: "If you thought it is over it is not. Your time is coming and I will get you." Taibu added that as he walked towards his car, Mliswa "continued saying things aloud, but I was not listening."

Asked why Chingoka and the board had taken more action following the original threat, Taibu replied: "We have said people like Mliswa are not good for the game of cricket. It appears to me that he is so close to Chingoka that there is nothing that will be done to him."

Mliswa is one of Zimbabwe's more controversial figures. He was deported from the UK in 2002 in connection with an immigration scam and in 2003 was arrested after an assault on a farm which he had taken possession of under the country's Land Reform Act. That same farm was the scene of more violence this week when a man died during a fight.

Taibu, meanwhile, revealed that he has plans to play cricket in South Africa and then in England in 2006, possibly with a county side.

Taibu's wife, Loveness, who had been staying with friends ever since the threatening phone call, is now back home with their four-week old baby boy.