Zimbabwe Head Coach Dave Houghton Resigns After Failure In T20 World Cup 2024 Qualifiers
New Delhi: Dave Houghton resigned from the post of Zimbabwe’s Head Coach following his side’s failure in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Qualifiers. ZIM suffered embarrassing losses against associate nations Namibia and Uganda and failed to qualify for the mega tournament that will be held in the West Indies and the USA next year.
The former ZIM player believes that players have stopped responding to his voice now. Houghton is no longer the coach of Zimbabwe after handing his resignation at a Zimbabwe Cricket board meeting, on Wednesday. However, he will be appointed with a new role in the organisation.
“Players Are not responding to my voice anymore. 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,” told Houghton to ESPN Cricinfo
The Zimbabwe Cricket Board will be appointing an Interim coaching staff for the upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.
Zimbabwe’s tour of Sri Lanka for white series comprising three ODIs and as many as T20Is in January next year with a three-game ODI series starting from January 6 followed by a three-game T20I series between January 14-18.
This will be Zimbabwe’s first bilateral visit to the Island nation since 2022. Zimbabwe have shown good form against the Lions in recent years, including a stunning 3-2 ODI series win during their tour of Sri Lanka in 2017.
Sri Lanka will look to pick up the pieces after a disappointing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign, during which they failed to qualify for the knockout stage and finished in the second-last place.
The upcoming game time is set to be invaluable for the Sri Lankan team, especially with the T20 World Cup on the horizon. They have a packed schedule, including T20I series against Afghanistan (three games at home) and Bangladesh (three games away) in early 2024.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will be hoping to lift themselves after a string of disappointing results. They failed to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 after being unable to secure a top-two finish in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier. This was followed by a 1-2 series loss to Ireland at home.