Houghton Resigns in Shake Up at Zimbabwe Cricket

Houghton Resigns in Shake Up at Zimbabwe Cricket

Dave Houghton has resigned as the head coach of Zimbabwe Cricket’s senior men’s team, just a year and a half after taking on the role in June last year.

The development comes after Zimbabwe failed to secure a spot in both this year’s ODI Cricket World Cup and the upcoming T20 World Cup.

After Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup and losses to Ireland in both ODIs and T20Is, Houghton expressed to ESPNcricinfo that he felt the players were no longer responding to his coaching methods.

Houghton submitted his resignation during a Zimbabwe Cricket board meeting held on Wednesday.

An interim coaching staff will be appointed for the team’s upcoming assignment, a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka scheduled for January.

Despite stepping down from the coaching position, Houghton will remain involved with Zimbabwe Cricket and transition to a different role within the organization, aiming to contribute to the development of the country’s cricketers.

In a statement from Zimbabwe Cricket, Houghton shared his commitment to Zimbabwe cricket, stating:

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.

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.

Zimbabwe Cricket emphasized that the parting with Houghton was amicable, with Chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani referring to him as a “legend of our game” and expressing regret at his departure from the coaching role.

Houghton Resigns in Shake Up at Zimbabwe Cricket

Mukuhlani acknowledged the recent disappointments but emphasized Houghton’s substantial work over the past year in rebuilding the foundations for long-term success. Mukuhlani said:

“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.

“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.”

Recent results have raised concerns for Zimbabwe, particularly their defeats to Associate teams Namibia and Uganda in the T20 World Cup qualifier, making them the only Full Member to miss out on the 2024 tournament.

Additionally, a loss to Scotland at the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in July dashed their hopes of participating in the recently concluded World Cup.