David Houghton steps down as Zimbabwe men's coach

Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) have confirmed that their senior men's head coach Dave Houghton has resigned from his position with immediate effect. The board revealed that it plans to keep Houghton involved and is looking "to re-assign him to a new role within the organisation".

An interim technical team, which will be announced in due course according to ZC, will be in charge of the team during the tour to Sri Lanka in January.

Zimbabwe recently failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup, where they lost to Namibia and Uganda, but the last nail in the coffin was their loss to Ireland in both the ODI and T20I series.

In his resignation letter, ZC revealed, Houghton mentioned that had "lost the changeroom" after 18 months in charge and felt that a "new voice" was needed to take the team forward.

"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 after tending his resignation. "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 Mr Tavengwa Mukuhlani said: "Dave will always be a legend of our game and it is with regret that he felt the changeroom needed a new voice.

"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."

The board also informed that after its meeting on Wednesday, it has appointed a three-member committee chaired by Lloyd Mhishi "to probe the World Cup qualification failures as well as to review ZC's cricket affairs structure". The committee, whose other members are Godfrey Nyadongo and Blessing Ngondo, has been given three weeks to submit its findings.