ZC invites applications for national team coach

Zimbabwe Cricket has invited applications for the position of head coach of the national side, according to a press statement released by the board on Wednesday. ZC will accept applications for the position until September 9.

ZC had sacked Dav Whatmore as head coach in May this year, and appointed former South Africa fast bowler Makhaya Ntini to the role in an interim capacity. Ntini coached the team through the limited-overs home series against India, and the two home Tests against New Zealand.

Whatmore was appointed Zimbabwe coach in December 2014, following the fractious five-month tenure of Stephen Mangongo. However, Zimbabwe's performances in the ICC tournaments - they finished sixth out of seven teams in Pool B during the 2015 World Cup and failed to qualify for the main round of the World T20 this year - were a factor in Whatmore's dismissal. While the team did not win a series during this period, they drew T20 series against India and Bangladesh, with one-off ODI wins against New Zealand and Pakistan. However, they also lost successive ODI and T20I series to Afghanistan at home and in the UAE.

Mangongo, who is currently coach of Zimbabwe's Under-19 side, is likely to be one of the contenders for the job, along with A team coach Douglas Hondo. It is not yet known whether Ntini is likely to apply for the job.

One of the main roles of the coach will be to focus on the new domestic cricket structure brought in by ZC. The structure has changed from one based on franchise sides to a provincial-team one, although the number of teams will remain at four.

Zimbabwe's next scheduled series is against Sri Lanka at home in October-November, but the planned tour of two Tests, three ODIs and a T20I, may instead be played as a triangular series, with West Indies coming in as the third team. The change in schedule would affect Zimbabwe, who have had a dearth of Test matches recently - the Test series against New Zealand was their first in 20 months, and should Sri Lanka's tour be whittled down to a tri-series, they would have to wait until July 2017 for their next Test series.