dyton mupawaenda
LAST week, Zimbabwe Cricket revealed the appointment of Justin Sammons, who has been working extensively in South African cricket over the years, as the new head coach of the senior men’s national team, popularly known as the Chevrons.
He is due to officially start work on Monday.
Sammons will be assisted by former Zimbabwe international Dion Ebrahim, who gained coaching experience by been a part of the backroom staff with the New Zealand senior men’s team in recent times.
Apart from the Chevrons set-up, former Zimbabwe all-rounder and captain, Elton Chigumbura, was handed the role of head coach of the nation’s Under-19 team.
He will get support from Norbert Manyande, who previously played first-class cricket in Zimbabwe, as assistant and batting coach, while former South Africa bowler Paul Adams will be the bowling coach.
In justifying Sammons’ appointment, ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said he brings a wealth of coaching experience and a reputation of identifying, nurturing and developing some of the best young talent in South Africa.
Mukuhlani added that they were also charmed by Sammons’ hard-working and passionate approach as well as sense of values on and off the pitch.
The Chevrons did not have a substantive coach since Zimbabwean legend, Dave Houghton quit in December last year.
The timing of the appointment is key as it means the Chevrons will have a substantive coach when they host India for five T20 internationals at Harare Sports Club.
Not much can be used to assess Sammons from the series against a makeshift India as he would have hardly worked with the team but it will be a useful tour for the new technical team to establish the amount of work that lies ahead.
Stuart Matsikenyeri took the team to Bangladesh in an interim role and the experiment did very little to inspire confidence.
There was urgent need for stability at the top and the appointment of substantive coaches should be the beginning of a season to revive the national teams that have been on a freefall.
Crucially, Sammons was appointed in the middle of an International Cricket Council T20 World Cup currently underway in the West Indies and USA.
Zimbabwe are the only ICC full member nation that was missing from the tournament after missing out on qualification on two attempts, most recent being the qualifying tournament in Namibia where the Chevrons finished third behind the hosts and Uganda.
As largely expected, the two ICC associate members failed to progress beyond the opening round although they did well to not finish bottom of their respective groups as they both won one match out of four, earning useful revenue as a result.
In a worrying decline, Zimbabwe have now missed three out of the last four World Cups — ODIs and T20Is — and will have to go through a qualifying tournament for the 2026 T20 World Cup set for India and Sri Lanka in the subcontinent.
The Chevrons are however, guaranteed a slot in the ODI World Cup 2027 by virtue of being co-hosts with South Africa and Namibia.
Only Houghton himself and the ZC board know why he quit after the dramatic collapse of the Chevrons culminating in the humiliating failure to reach the T20 World Cup. It was under Houghton that Harare Sports Club became too small for Chevrons games despite being the country’s biggest venue.
That is why there are seemingly concrete plans to double the capacity at Harare Sports Club, increasing the stands at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo and building other international venues in places like Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe, Masvingo and Victoria Falls.
Failure to reach the 2023 ODI World Cup after hosting the qualifiers at Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club was terrible and the failure to progress to the ongoing T20 World Cup against the minnows in qualifiers was unacceptable.
The incoming coach has his work cut out for him. The results have to change and the application by the players has to improve if the interest in the Chevrons and cricket is to be revived ahead of the new expansion plans.
It is a good thing that Sammons has experience as a batting coach while Ebrahim was also an opening batsman for the Chevrons during his playing days as it is the one area that needs serious attention.
In both the World Cup qualifiers, the Chevrons missed out on qualification due to poor batting and seemingly over reliance on Sikandar Raza, whose lack of runs in crucial matches resulted in the team missing out on what seemed certain qualifications.
The ZC leadership has seemingly allowed Sammons to exercise all his powers with minimum involvement of the employer and it is every cricket fan’s hope that this is what will obtain when he gets down to business.
One of the claims made each time the Chevrons disappointed was the alleged involvement of the ZC leadership in team selection and related decision making.
It is also hoped that Sammons will use his vast experience to help the ZC bridge the gap between domestic and international performances. Currently there seems to be a disconnect between the statistics on the domestic scene and the national team games.
Online Reporter