Dave Houghton has stepped down from his position as Zimbabwe team head coach after taking the role in June last year. Houghton's resignation is effective immediately, and he pointed to a breakdown in his relationship with the players as the primary reason for his decision.
His resignation comes 18 months into the job, following Zimbabwe's unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and losses to Ireland in both the ODIs and T20I series at home. Zimbabwe had suffered defeats to Namibia and Uganda in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 qualification.
In response to Zimbabwe's disastrous performance, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) has set up a three-member committee led by Lloyd Mhishi to investigate the causes of these setbacks. And Houghton claimed that he felt the players were no longer responding to his coaching.
Dave Houghton said in a ZC statement: “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.”
ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani stated: “While the past few months have been disappointing as we failed to qualify for both the ODI World Cup and the T20 World Cup, they should not obscure all the work Houghton has done over the past year to rebuild the foundations for long-term success.”
Notably, Houghton submitted his resignation during a ZC board meeting held on Wednesday (December 20). Following his exit, ZC will appoint an interim coaching staff for the team's upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, which is scheduled for January 2024.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
