Lawyers Chris Venturas and the players leave the hearing

An inquiry into allegations of racism against the Zimbabwe Cricket Union was abandoned on Thursday after a dispute over court procedure.

Lawyer Chris Venturas wanted ZCU officials barred from the room while a group of former Test players, who made the allegations, gave evidence.

His application was upheld by the two-man inquiry panel, but the ZCU refused to accept the decision.

Written submissions will now be used to resolve the case.

"I would prefer to have had the oral evidence heard by the two-member panel but this has now proved impossible," said International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani.

Venturas had argued the presence of ZCU administrators Ozias Bvute and Max Ebrahim, and Mashonaland Cricket Association chairman Tavengwa Mkuhlani would intimidate witnesses.

And South African judge Steven Majiedt, who was appointed to take charge of the inquiry along with India's solicitor general Goolam Vahanvati, said they had been placed in an "untenable position".

Press leaks

He added: "This outcome is obviously not what would be desired, but has been imposed upon us by the unfortunate recalcitrant and inflexible positions adopted by both parties.

"We intend fulfilling our mandate with the material placed before us by the parties at this juncture, in accordance with the terms of reference."

I am disappointed the hearing did not go the distance The ICC's Ehsan Mani

Vahanvati, meanwhile, accused Venturas of giving inaccurate briefings to the media.

"It is clear who is responsible for these hearings being closed and the press being excluded. We note with regret that despite having insisted on these conditions, Mr Venturas is speaking to the press," he said.

"If, despite restraint from our side and on the part of the ZCU, Mr Venturas wishes to speak to the press, then he has a responsibility to be accurate.

"Unfortunately, he has been far from accurate."

Despite the abrupt end of the hearing, one of the players, Stuart Carlisle, remained confident the panel would reach the right decision.

He told the BBC: "It's upsetting that it was a stalemate, but we leave it up to the good judgment of the judges that were here and hope they can come up with a fair and honest report, which I'm sure they will."

Players' boycott

If found guilty, the ZCU could face a range of penalties, including possible expulsion from international cricket.

The findings of the two-man panel will be submitted to the International Cricket Council's Executive Board for discussion at its next full meeting on 16 and 17 October.

It is now almost seven months since 15 white players boycotted the national team following the sacking of captain Heath Streak.

They subsequently issued a detailed statement outlining allegations of biased selection policy.

The 15 'rebels' were eventually sacked for their protest, and after two months of futile negotiations the ICC in June suspended Zimbabwe's Tests for the rest of the year.

"This process is part of a bigger process to highlight what has gone wrong, and to make sure the future is one in which people are comfortable irrespective of who they are, where they come from and what colour they are," said Streak.