Chawaguta takes over Chevrons

ZIMBABWE Cricket (ZC) has announced that decorated cricket coach, Walter Chawaguta will be the acting gaffer of the senior men’s national cricket team replacing Dave Houghton.

The 51-year-old comes in as a “new voice” as Houghton had requested, alleging that he had lost the dressing room after Zimbabwe’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of Uganda during the T20 World Cup Qualifiers.

After the qualifiers, Zimbabwe went on to lose a white ball series against Ireland. The Chevrons lost both the ODI and T20I series, forcing Houghton to throw in the towel with the ZC board accepting his resignation on Wednesday.

However, coming into a camp whose players are down in spirit, the need to revive their confidence will not be any easy task. Despite that, Chawaguta is not just ‘another’ cricket coach, he comes in with experience, something which will likely help the team.

He is tried and tested and is likely to get the job done.

Chawaguta is a product of Zimbabwe’s development programme and his first assignment will not be an easy one as he is set to lead the team for their white ball series tour of Sri Lanka in early January. Going to the subcontinent will not be an easy task for the experienced gaffer but he has what it takes.

Having coached Zimbabwe in the past and also with coaching stints in Australia (during the era of Ricky Ponting), Chawaguta brings in a lot of cricket expertise to the Chevrons set-up and will be key in their quest to cause an upset in the Asian nation.

He served as Zimbabwe’s head coach in 2008 and has also been involved over the years as batting consultant for the Zimbabwe Senior Women’s National team, the Lady Chevrons. He was also the coach of the 2003/2004 Under-19 team that reached the Super League stage of that tournament, thumping the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

He is set to lead a technical team that includes Stuart Matsikenyeri (Assistant Coach/Batting Coach), Steve Kirby (Bowling Coach), Erick Chauluka (Fielding Coach), Walter Karimanzira (Fitness and Conditioning Trainer), Amato Machikicho (Physiotherapist), Alistair Chambe (Team Doctor) and Mufaro Chiturumani (Analyst).

Darlington Majonga will double up as Team Manager and Media Manager, while Lovemore Banda will be the Logistics Manager.

Zimbabwe will face Sri Lanka in three ODI matches scheduled for 6, 8 and 11 January before the two sides meet in as many T20I fixtures pencilled in for 14, 16 and 18 January.

All the matches will be played at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo. This will be the two teams’ first international outings of the New Year. – @brandon_malvin