Zimbabwe to sack entire coaching staff, replace captain for missing World Cup berth

Resign or get sacked. Zimbabwe Cricket has given two simple but very difficult options to its entire coaching staff after they failed to take Zimbabwe to the ODI World Cup in England following a shock defeat to UAE in their last Super Six league match in the World Cup qualifiers.

According to ESPNCricinfo, Zimbabwe head coach Heath Streak, batting coach Lance Klusener, bowling coach Douglas Hondo, fielding coach Walter Chawaguta, fitness coach Sean Bell and team analyst Stanley Chioza - all other coaching staff, including the Under-19 coach Stephen Mangongo are set to lose their job on Friday.

In another major development, Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer is set to be replaced by Brendan Taylor.

While it is true that the decision is a direct consequence of Zimbabwe’s failure to seal World Cup qualification, it is not the sole reason. Zimbabwe’s cricket board is again going through an acute financial crisis and managing expenses of such a large support staff was getting increasingly difficult. All ZC staff were only paid 40% of their salaries in February

Only Zimbabwe head coach Heath Streak has an alternative, though not a full-time one. Streak is the bowling coach of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and will join them ahead of the eleventh edition of IPL, set to begin from April 7.