Image Credit- AP
Dave Houghton left his position as head coach of the
Zimbabwean men’s team 18 months after taking it on in June of last year.
Following Zimbabwe’s inability to make it to the Twenty20 World Cup and their
loss to Ireland in both the Twenty20I and ODI series, Houghton expressed his
belief that the players were “not responding to my voice anymore.”
At the Zimbabwe Cricket Board meeting on Wednesday, he
submitted his resignation. For the team’s upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka
in January, an interim coaching staff will be appointed. Houghton will stay
with ZC and take on a new position within the company in an effort to continue
contributing to the growth of the cricketers in his native nation.
“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,” Houghton said in a ZC statement. “The
talent base in Zimbabwe is enormous. How we move players from talented to
performing well on the international stage is a great project to be involved
in.”
ZC also indicated that they have parted ways with
Houghton on good terms and chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani called him a
“legend of our game,” who the organisation “regrets,” to
let go from this role. “While the past few months have been disappointing
as we failed to qualify for both the 50-over World Cup and the T20 World Cup,
they should not obscure all the work he has done over the past year to rebuild
the foundations for long-term success,” Mukuhlani said. “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.”
Zimbabwe’s recent performance, which saw them lose to
Associate countries Namibia and Uganda in a T20 World Cup qualification and
become the only Full Member to miss the 2024 competition, is cause for serious
concern. Despite gaining the hearts of their country, they also lost to
Scotland at the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in July, which crushed their dreams of
competing in the recently finished World Cup. Zimbabwe had defeated West Indies
earlier in the campaign, and Houghton’s strategies appeared to be effective.
The pinnacle of his tenure was the 2022 T20 World Cup, as Zimbabwe advanced
past the opening round and into the Super 12s, despite not being able to take
the country to the 50-over World Cup.