Mangongo unfazed by new task

Mehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
RECENTLY appointed Zimbabwe senior national cricket team coach Stephen Mangongo is not intimidated by his new job and is taking it like any other.
Mangongo was last month promoted to the post of head coach of the country’s national cricket team, in the process succeeding another Zimbabwean Andrew Waller who had been in the job for just over a year. Waller has since been re-assigned by his employers Zimbabwe Cricket to the post of national director of coaching responsible for grassroots cricket. The changes were agreed upon at a ZC board meeting held in Harare on 23 July. Other changes saw Brendan Taylor being appointed to lead Zimbabwe only in Test matches while all-rounder Elton Chigumbura is now the captain for the shorter formats of the game.

The 45-year-old Mangongo had been national team assistant coach for five years having previously coached the national Under-19 and Zimbabwe A. Last year, Mangongo stood in as a caretaker head coach following the expiry of Alan Butcher’s contract which saw him take charge of Zimbabwe’s matches against Bangladesh.

Mangongo described his latest elevation like any other task that he has been given by his employers, ZC which he was going to carry out to the best of his ability.

“It is life as normal for me, it is just like any other assignment that I have been given by ZC, I will do it to the best of my ability,’’ said Mangongo.

The man with 21 years coaching experience said his immediate task was to make sure  the Zimbabwe cricket brand is restored to what it used to be by thoroughly beating International Cricket Council Associate members, ensure there is enough talent to replace the current crop of players and be competitive against the top cricket playing nations.

“We have to make sure that when we play against the best teams in the world we win more than we lose matches against them. We should not be losing against the associate members, we should be thoroughly beating them,’’ Mangongo said.

Following a humiliating One Day International 2-2 draw with Afghanistan in Bulawayo, the national team regrouped in Harare last Monday as they prepare for a visit to the country by world cricket powerhouse South Africa. Zimbabwe take on the best Test playing nation South Africa in a one off Test match at Harare Sports Club in the capital which commences on 9 August, before the two teams meet in three ODIs at Bulawayo’s Queens Sport Club. The two countries would be later joined by Australia for a triangular ODI series at Harare Sports Club.

Mangongo feels the time he has had to fine tune for the Proteas who recently won a Test series in Sri Lanka is not enough. The new national team coach is, however, bullish that his team can deliver an upset in the Test match, just like they did when they defeated Pakistan in Harare last year.

“The time we have to prepare for the Proteas is not enough for any team but the job has to be done to the best of our ability. The boys have to bring out their best game, just like we did against Pakistan we showed we can compete against a higher ranked team, we just have to get it right in all the three aspects of the game, batting, bowling and fielding,’’ said Mangongo.

He firmly believes that Zimbabwe, ranked number nine in the ICC Test rankings can pull a shocker against South Africa who are the best team in the longer format of the game at the moment. The key for Zimbabwe Mangongo feels is going to be how they approach the task against the Proteas.

South Africa have signalled that they will not be doing Zimbabwe any favours in the once off Test by naming a strong squad featuring some of the best players in world cricket at the moment. Some of the world- class players the local fans can look forward to watching in Zimbabwe are Hashim Amla, Abraham De Villiers, Jean Paul Duminy, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Francois Du Plessis and Imran Tahir.

With a new man in charge who seems to have no fears at all, Zimbabwe gear up for tough challenges against South Africa and Australia with the hope of inflicting some upset wins over the two world cricketing powerhouses.