Dave Houghton, the head coach of Zimbabwe Cricket’s senior men’s team, has resigned from his role effective immediately, the organization has confirmed. The board disclosed that Houghton will continue to be involved and that they are seeking “to reassign him to a new role within the organization.”
During the team’s January journey to Sri Lanka, an interim technical team will be in control; ZC said they will make the announcement soon. Zimbabwe recently lost to Namibia and Uganda in their attempt to qualify for the T20 World Cup, but their defeat to Ireland in the ODI and T20I series was the final straw.
Houghton stated that he had “lost the changeroom” after 18 months in leadership and believed that a “new voice” was required to move the team forward in his resignation letter, which ZC disclosed.
Houghton tendered his resignation and stated, “I have always had Zimbabwe cricket at heart and, though my coaching of the national team comes to an end, I would love to be involved in other areas.” “Zimbabwe has a huge talent pool. It’s a terrific endeavor to work on how we take players from being gifted to competing well on the global scene.”
“Dave will always be a legend of our game, and it is with regret that he felt the changeroom needed a new voice,” ZC Chairman Mr. Tavengwa Mukuhlani stated.
“Although we haven’t been able to qualify for the 50-over World Cup or the T20 World Cup in recent months, this shouldn’t take away from the tremendous job he has done over the last year to lay the groundwork for long-term success.
“Dave leaves the team with our sincerest thanks for his tireless efforts and we are looking forward to working with him in a different role as we seek to change our on-field fortunes.”
A three-person committee led by Lloyd Mhishi has been created by the board “to probe the World Cup qualification failures as well as to review ZC’s cricket affairs structure,” the board further said during its meeting on Wednesday. The committee has been given three weeks to turn in its findings. Godfrey Nyadongo and Blessing Ngondo are the other members.