Vermeulen is being held by the police in Harare after reportedly confessing to starting fires at the Zimbabwe board (ZC) headquarters and the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy. The blaze at the Academy destroyed buildings and equipment, but the one in the ZC boardroom was quickly put out.

He is due to appear in court in the next few days, and if found guilty he faces a minimum of two years in prison. One local told me that "going to prison here for three months is hell... prison is a death sentence for a white person... they will gladly put him inside and throw away the key."

But there are serious questions emerging about Vermeulen's mental state and friends and colleagues speak of him being acutely depressed.

In September he was banned for ten years after a much-publicised incident in a Lancashire League match. Although that ban was reduced on appeal, his behaviour both on and off the field was extraordinary. His lawyer claimed that his client was "suffering from a depressive illness which of course has a significant impact upon his behaviour". He returned to Zimbabwe where his mental state seemed to slide even further.

Earlier last month he was arrested after arriving at the gates of Robert Mugabe's fortified official residence in Harare demanding to speak to the president, who is the patron of Zimbabwe Cricket. It is common knowledge that people have been shot for just being in vicinity of the palace at the wrong time, underlining just how ill-advised Vermeulen's conduct was. He had also been undergoing treatment after a car crash.

On Monday, he was reportedly escorted from the South African embassy where he was trying to obtain a visa to travel to Johannesburg. The fires followed that and the following night.