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The Bangladesh allrounder got there in his 54th Test, one fewer than Ian Botham, while also becoming the first bowler from his country to get 200 Test wickets

Mohammad Isam24-Nov-2018Shakib Al Hasan became the first Bangladesh bowler to take 200 Test wickets. He is also the fastest to complete the double of 3000 runs and 200 wickets, having completed the feat in his 54th Test, one fewer than Ian Botham, the previous quickest to the landmark, had taken.

Quickest to 3000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests

Shakib-54
Botham-55
Cairns-58
Flintoff-69
Kapil-73

Shakib, who had come into this match with 196 scalps, removed Kieran Powell in the second innings for his 200th wicket. He had taken three wickets in the first innings.On the same day and against the same opposition six years ago – November 24, 2012 – Shakib had picked up his 100th Test wicket, becoming the second Bangladesh bowler after Mohammad Rafique to reach the milestone. Rafique had done it in March 2008, in his last Test.Shakib has 18 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls in his career so far, with his best match figures coming against Zimbabwe in Khulna in 2014, when he had match figures of 10 for 124. He had also made a first-innings 137 in that game. His second 10-for, against Australia last year, came in a game in which he had made a gutsy 84 in the first innings.His best bowling figures in an innings was the 7 for 36 he had taken against New Zealand in Chittagong in 2008, the day after then coach Jamie Siddons had said Shakib was the bowling leader after Rafique’s retirement.

With three matches remaining, Essex move closer to the title after Manchester weather turned on its own

ECB Reporters Network08-Sep-2017
Moody Old Trafford skies brought good cheer to Essex•AFP

The Specsavers County Championship clash between league leaders Essex and second-placed Lancashire ended in a draw after rain wiped out almost four sessions of the match at Old Trafford.Both sides took nine points as Essex maintain a 36-point lead in the Championship with three matches remaining.The game ended at 16.10pm after Essex declared in order to prevent Lancashire from picking up another bowling point, with both captains then shaking hands on a draw.It transpired that Lancashire then also declared without batting and those two declarations took 20 minutes out of the game and moved the match into the last hour.Therefore both captains were able to agree that a result was not possible and the match could end in a draw.A wet outfield after heavy overnight rain meant that there was no play possible before lunch on the final day.When play did get underway at 13.40pm, Essex resumed their first innings on 115-4 in reply to Lancashire’s 290 and quickly passed their first target which was to avoid the follow-on.From there it was largely a battle for bonus points and Lancashire struck four times before tea to secure their second bowling point which moved them ahead of Essex by four points to three in the match.Ryan McLaren dismissed Adam Wheater and Ashar Zaidi before Tom Bailey bowled James Foster as Lancashire took three wickets in four overs to reduce Essex to 151-7.Jordan Clark then went on to trap Simon Harmer for 11 which triggered an early tea with Essex still 28 runs short of the 200 runs required to earn their first batting point.Ninth-wicket pairing Paul Walter and Jamie Porter guided the leaders past that point with the final delivery before the new ball was due.Lancashire captain Ryan McLaren took the new ball and at that stage, Essex promptly decided to declare on 202-8, trailing by 88 runs after the first innings.That meant that Lancashire couldn’t get that final bowling point to move ahead in the match and the gap between the top two remains the same as it was before this game.Essex are at Warwickshire next week while Lancashire travel down to Taunton to face Somerset.

The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI

Nagraj Gollapudi in Delhi30-Jun-2016India’s Supreme Court has reserved its judgement in the case concerning implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations by the BCCI. There will be no further hearing in the case and the two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, will submit the written judgement to the concerned parties. The judgement is likely to be delivered before July 21, the date when Justice Kalifulla retires.The hearings in the case concluded on Thursday afternoon (June 30) after senior legal counsel KK Venugopal, representing the BCCI, wrapped up his arguments. Before concluding his defence, which lasted nearly 90 minutes, Venugopal said that the BCCI was happy to implement every recommendation made by the Lodha committee barring “six or seven”. These included: restrictions on ministers and bureaucrats being part of the BCCI and state associations, ‘one state, one vote’, presence of a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the apex council, and an age cap of 70 years for office-bearers.In May, former BCCI president Shashank Manohar had stated five recommendations the board was opposed to: advertisements between overs during a match broadcast, ‘one state, one vote’, the presence of two members from IPL franchises on the league’s governing council, the formation of an apex council, and a cap on the tenure of the office bearers.Venugopal argued that that there could not be any judicial review of the board’s activities and read out previous judgments to stress his point. He said that the BCCI was not a corporate body, but a society which is a “conglomeration of members” protected under Article 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution of India. The specific constitutional clause relates to the right to form an association and Venugopal said the court must not interfere with that right.The BCCI counsel said that the Indian board had already accepted and implemented most of the recommendations by the Lodha committee, such as: appointments of the chief executive officer and chief financial officer; recruitment of consultants like Pricewaterhouse Coopers to audit accounts of the BCCI and state associations; organisation of cricket camps under the guidance of former India players like Dilip Vengsarkar, Kiran More and Shiv Sunder Das in the north-eastern states under a scheme to develop the game in new areas.However, when Venugopal pointed out that the BCCI had taken action against officials of the Goa Cricket Association, who were arrested for alleged fraud, both the bench as well as amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium stated the board had failed to maintain checks and balances for a long time.Venugopal claimed the BCCI reacted proactively and swiftly as it suspended GCA president Chetan Desai from the board’s marketing committee and association secretary Vinod Phadke from the information and technology committee. Incidentally, Desai, Phadke and treasurer Akbar Mulla, who was also arrested, are still office bearers in the association.Subramanium praised the BCCI for its action but pointed out that it had come a bit late. He told the court the board had done nothing for years, disbursing funds to the state associations without asking what the money was being used for, who was using it and how it was being utilised. Apart from Goa, Subramanium pointed to the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) and Saurashtra Cricket Association as examples of the board’s oversight.”A total of Rs 141 crore has been given to GCA from 2010-11. When Justice Mudgal was appointed (by Delhi High Court to oversee the conduct of the fourth Test against South Africa last year) he could not believe the sorry state of affairs (at the DDCA). In Saurashtra one whole family are the members of a cricket association,” Subramanium told the court.He cited another example of malfeasance at DDCA, where 14 members were listed as staying at a single address that was only 48 square metres in area. “How many members can live in 48 square metres? But from one such address, there are 14 members in the DDCA,” Subramanium said. When Justice Thakur asked whether all 14 members were from one family, Subramanium said that was not the case: “Puris, Walias, Ahluwalias, all under one roof that is only 48 square metres.”Justice Thakur asked whether the big-name auditors like PWC were actually checking what the funds were being used for. “If you are giving Rs 200 crore are there much verifications being done, are there safeguards against misappropriation? If you had a system in place, this [GCA] would not have happened today,” Justice Thakur said. He then suggested that it was important for the board to conduct a “performance audit” and have a robust mechanism of safeguards in place.In fact, a performance audit is one of the recommendations made by the Lodha panel that was appointed in January 2015 by the court – in the aftermath of the investigation into the IPL 2013 corruption scandal – to examine and suggest changes to the functioning of the Indian cricket board.Venugopal said the BCCI had also taken action against associations like the Bihar Cricket Association and the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association recently by cutting off their funds. Nalini Chidambaram, the counsel for Cricket Association for Bihar, the original petitioner in the IPL 2013 corruption case, countered Venugopal and said the board had punished the Bihar Cricket Association by “actually giving them funds worth Rs 50 lakh”.Justice Thakur responded to Venugopal’s defence by saying, “Someone has swindled you. How is the BCCI claiming credit? There was no fact-finding mission set up. Now since May 10, you have been seeking utilisation certificates but what happened before that? Why were you sleeping all these years? Why were utilisation certifications not sought? You were disbursing funds without the utilisation certificates.” The chief justice added that by stopping funds the BCCI was hurting the interests of the game and the players, without allowing them to “flourish”.The court was also shown an interview of BCCI president Anurag Thakur where he said that if the Lodha committee recommendations were adopted, it would set the BCCI back by 20 years. “Send Test cricket back by 20 years,” the chief justice remarked, in response.Over the last few months, the Supreme Court has been critical of the board’s reluctance to adopt the Lodha recommendations. The judges have slammed the BCCI’s method of disbursing funds to state associations and also rebuffed arguments made by the state associations and the board against the Lodha panel recommendations, which were made public in January this year. A month after the report, the Court also set the BCCI a deadline to make its stance clear on the recommendations or deal with the possibility of having the court implement it for them.

Kumar Sangakkara is expected to call time on his international career after three further matches – the last of which will be the first Test against India

Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Jun-20151:25

Fernando: Kumar Sangakkara likely to trim final two Test series

Kumar Sangakkara is expected to call time on his international career after three further matches – the last of which will be the first Test against India. The timing of his retirement will be finalised on Tuesday in a meeting with the national selectors, but Sangakkara has already informed the board that he will only play the first two Tests against Pakistan and one against India, as he juggles the tail-end of his international career with his commitment to county side Surrey.This means Sangakkara is unlikely to play international cricket again in his hometown of Kandy, though he did have an unofficial farewell in Pallekele in December. The first two Tests against Pakistan are scheduled for Galle and Colombo, and the first Test against India is presently set for Galle – though the venues for that tour have not been formally announced. There appears a chance his farewell Test could be moved to Kandy, but with preparations already having begun for a major celebration in the south, Sangakkara will likely end his international career at the site of his debut – in Galle.Sangakkara had originally intended to retire from all formats following the World Cup, but was convinced to stay on for two more series by the former selectors and captain Angelo Mathews, among others. The present selectors had also hoped to convince the batsman to play all six Tests against Pakistan and India, but Sangakkara had remained firm in his decision to step away. Surrey’s schedule also played a role in limiting the number of Tests Sangakkara would play in these series.With 12,203 Test runs, 38 Test hundreds and an average of 58.66, Sangakkara will retire as Sri Lanka’s most successful Test batsman, and will likely stay fifth on the overall run-tally. Having hit a double ton in January this year, he is also only one short of Donald Bradman’s record double century count of 12.Sangakkara was the fastest batsman to 8000, 9000, 10,000 (joint fastest with Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara), 11,000 and 12,000 Test runs, in terms of innings played, and presently the top-ranked Test batsman in the world.The latest unconfirmed schedule for the India series has Sangakkara’s farewell match beginning on August 18. He is expected to play for Surrey in between the second Pakistan Test and the first game against India.

Australia will target Hashim Amla with verbal aggression and engage him in a “psychological war”, according to a dossier of team game-plans published in News Ltd newspapers in Australia

Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane07-Nov-2012Australia will target Hashim Amla with verbal aggression and engage him in a “psychological war”, according to a dossier of team game-plans published in News Ltd newspapers in Australia. The papers claimed that the leaked document contained Australia’s “secret” plans to combat each of South Africa’s players, and including peppering Jacques Kallis with bouncers and going after the legspinner Imran Tahir.However, it is the plan to use verbal tactics against Amla in an effort to break his concentration that will create the biggest stir. The document also mentions Australia’s intent to send down plenty of short balls to Amla, who is the No.2 batsman in the world on the ICC Test rankings, and was one of South Africa’s strongest performers in the two-match series against Australia last year. He led the run tally with 239 at 59.75 and made two of only four centuries in the series.Earlier on Wednesday, before the plans were published, Ricky Ponting was asked in Brisbane about whether sledging should be expected in the series, which begins at the Gabba on Friday. Ponting said Australia had no preconceived plans to sledge, but he conceded that in the heat of the battle for the No.1 Test ranking, things might get verbal at some point.”Whenever South Africa and Australia play the rivalry and the way we go about our cricket is very similar,” Ponting said. “I expect it to be good, hard tough Test match cricket. Whether that means there’s words spoken or not, I don’t know. That’s stuff that happens in the heat of the battle. We’ve got no preconceived ideas about going out there and sledging or talking. We’ll hopefully do the talking with bat and ball.”This will be the first series between the sides in which Australia will have the advantage of having as their mentor Mickey Arthur, the former South Africa coach who has worked with most of Graeme Smith’s squad in the past. Ponting said Arthur had been useful in devising plans against the South Africans, including how a powerful attack led by Dale Steyn would attack Australia’s batsman, and how best to rattle South Africa’s top order.”We’ve done our homework on all of their players,” Ponting said. “We’ve got very specific plans with the way we’re going to bowl to a lot of their batsmen. As a batting group we’ve spoken long and hard about the way their bowlers will bowl to us as well. It’s nice to know that stuff and a bit of inside information from the coach on how their bowlers will probably try to bowl to us as well is good.”We’ve got some areas for their batsmen that we’re going to target. Our young quicks are dying to get out there and have a crack at some of their top-order players. You can expect some fireworks. Some of their top order can expect a lot of short balls as well, that’s an area that we think we can really attack them. All in all our preparation so far has been good.”The dossier printed in Thursday’s newspapers also suggests the Australians will aim to trap Graeme Smith on the crease and dismiss him lbw, and test Vernon Philander’s endurance and his ability to come back for third and fourth spells. As well as attacking what it calls an “impatient” Tahir, the file encourages batsmen to go hard at Morne Morkel.The publication of the plans was reminiscent of an incident in 2000 when a dossier compiled by then-coach John Buchanan was leaked on a tour of New Zealand.

Kumar Sangakkara has praised the way Pakistan used the new ball on the first day of the second Test in Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2011Kumar Sangakkara has praised the way Pakistan used the new ball on the first day of the second Test in Dubai. Sri Lanka lost five batsmen in the first session, with Umar Gul and Junaid Khan doing the damage, and ended up being dismissed for 239. Sangakkara top scored with 78 while Chanaka Welegedara and Rangana Herath boosted the visitors with a 75-run partnership for the eighth wicket.”It was just a case of getting through that new ball without losing too many wickets,” Sangakkara said. “But, having said that, I thought Pakistan used that new ball very well. There wasn’t too much in that wicket, so it was a bit disappointing from our side, but again it was a great fightback to get to 240-odd runs at the end.”Sri Lanka’s capitulation on the first day for the second Test in a row left Pakistan needing to face a testing nine overs, but the openers saw off the new ball without too much fuss and Pakistan ended the day on 42 without loss.”With 240, if we get some wickets with the new ball we might have a chance of keeping Pakistan down to a manageable total,” Sangakkara said. “This wicket is probably slower than the one in Abu Dhabi, with less movement first up so it was unfortunate we couldn’t make better use of it, but that’s the beauty of Test cricket.”Sometimes, when you don’t have a great first innings you need to claw your way back into the match and every day and over that we play out there is an opportunity for us to get back in the game.”Umar Gul, who made the early inroads for Pakistan, said the bowlers exploited the moisture in the pitch well. “Definitely we are very happy because the coach told us that there was a bit of moisture on the wicket and you can try and get five to six wickets early. I was a bit surprised but later on what he said was true.”We have to bat well to take the lead and then repeat our bowling performance of the first innings to win the Test. We are up to it and will do our best to take a 1-0 lead here.”

Yuvraj Singh, the Rest of India captain, smashed an unbeaten 204 off 194 balls to increase his side’s lead to mammoth proportions and leave Mumbai chasing a close-to-impossible 782 runs in the fourth innings

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit04-Oct-2010Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYuvraj Singh made up for his first-innings failure with a double-century•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Yuvraj Singh, the Rest of India captain, smashed an unbeaten 204 off 194 balls to increase his side’s lead to mammoth proportions, and leave Mumbai chasing a near-impossible 782 in the fourth innings. Yuvraj, whose failure in the first innings cost him a vital opportunity to impress the India selectors, made up for that with a knock of characteristic belligerence as Mumbai’s attack wilted on the fourth day.He struck 28 fours and five sixes, and was supported by steady sixties from the Tamil Nadu pair of Abhinav Mukund and S Badrinath, who carried on from where they left things in the first innings. Yuvraj declared on reaching his double century, leaving Mumbai facing a tough ask if they were to save the game. Wasim Jaffer, the Mumbai captain, was up to the task, scoring a patient 46 to take them to stumps, in the company of Ajinkya Rahane, after Sushant Marathe was forced to retire with a wrist injury.How Yuvraj would fare in the second innings was one of the few points of interest left in the game, after Rest of India had chosen not to enforce the follow-on on the third day. And he didn’t disappoint the sizeable crowd that had turned up on Monday morning. He began with three fours in the first over of the day, bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni. He played straight for the most part, making a conscious effort to get forward, and drove imperiously in the arc between midwicket and extra cover.In the eighth over of the day, he was struck on the helmet by a short delivery from Usman Malvi, missing the line while attempting a half-hearted pull off the front foot. He tightened his technique against the short ball thereafter, pulling the same bowler for four in his next over. Yuvraj was bothered by the incoming delivery from round the wicket a few times but, to his credit, he saw off the threat.The lack of pace – both from the bowlers and off the pitch – forced Yuvraj to defend a lot of deliveries in the first half of his innings. He increased the pace as he neared three figures, moving from 95 to 107 with three consecutive fours off Kulkarni, reaching his 18th first-class hundred with an exquisite flick past midwicket.Mukund and Badrinath were hardly troubled during their stays before falling to Ramesh Powar, who got some reward for flighting the ball consistently. There was no such luck against Yuvraj, though, who opened up against the spinners after his century, lofting and pulling them for five sixes over the leg side. He reached his second first-class double hundred in the penultimate over before tea, sweeping Rohit Sharma to square leg. The first hundred had taken 121 deliveries, but the next one came in 69 as Mumbai merely awaited the declaration.Defending a mountain of runs, Rest of India bowled as well as the pitch allowed them to, but Jaffer, and later, Rahane, were hardly troubled in benign conditions. Mumbai will need more of it tomorrow if they are to draw the game.

Matt Merchant from Old Trafford has been named the 2009 Groundsman of the Year by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Cricinfo staff08-Dec-2009Matt Merchant from Old Trafford has been named the 2009 Groundsman of the Year by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).Merchant’s efforts for Lancashire enabled him to fend off his rivals in the four-day category, with Mick Hunt of Lord’s picking up the runner-up prize. A commendation went to Andy Peirson (Canterbury) in the same category.”The work of all head groundsmen is highly valued and we are delighted to make these annual awards which recognise the head groundsmen who have prepared the best pitches this season,” Alan Fordham, head of operations for the ECB (First Class Cricket), said.It is a notable achievement for Merchant, given it is his first season in charge at the club after spending 19 years on the staff under the stewardship of the former head groundsman Peter Marron, who retired last year.”I’m obviously thrilled to have received this award in my first year in the position and it’s recognition for the hard work and long hours the entire groundstaff team put in over the winter months and during a very wet and trying summer,” Merchant said.”Old Trafford has an excellent reputation for delivering first-class wickets that provide something for both batsmen and bowlers. A good wicket is what you always set out to achieve and I believe the competitiveness of the wicket at Old Trafford is one of the main reasons why cricketers want to play at this famous ground.”Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said: “We are all delighted for Matt and it is fantastic reward in his first season as head groundsman, succeeding Peter Marron who of course was one of the most respected in the business.”Peter Moores, Lancashire’s head coach, added: “Throughout the entire season Matt got the balance right between bat and ball. And in a season which was heavily affected by rain, the groundstaff worked tirelessly during fixtures to get as much cricket played as possible – something which was appreciated by all teams concerned.”Neil Godrich from Derby scooped the one-day award, beating off the challenges of Sean Williams of Bristol and Phil Frost of Taunton who shared the runner-up prize.
Bill Gordon (The Oval), Paul Marshall (Northampton), Hunt (Lord’s), and Nigel Gray (Rose Bowl) were commended in the one-day category.John Moden at Fenner’s is the winner for pitches at MCC Universities with Richard Sula at The Parks runner-up. Ross Spry at Cheltenham was awarded the Outgrounds prize with Micky Stewart and Christian Dunkerley at Scarborough earning the runner-up award.All umpires rate the pitches at the end of each match and the winners of each category are those who achieve the highest average across the course of the season.

Defending champions RCB bring in Heather Graham and Kim Garth for Sophie Devine and Kate Cross

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2025UP Warriorz (UPW) have acquired Chinelle Henry as an injury replacement for Alyssa Healy for WPL 2025 after the Australia and UPW captain was ruled out of the tournament because of a stress injury in her right foot. Meanwhile, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have brought in Heather Graham and Kim Garth in place of Sophie Devine and Kate Cross; Devine is taking a break from the game, while Cross hasn’t played since December owing to a back injury. All three players have been picked at INR 30 lakh.Healy missed the T20I leg of the women’s Ashes, which Australia won 16-0 over England, and passed a late fitness test to play the series-ending Test match as a middle-order batter. She got through the match without any obvious discomfort, scoring 34 in Australia’s only innings, but said later that she would not play in the WPL and would also miss the three-match T20I series against New Zealand that starts just two days after the WPL final on March 15.Henry, the 29-year-old West Indies middle-order batter and handy quick bowler, hasn’t played in the WPL before, but comes into the tournament with form behind her. She hit a 16-ball 43 in the last T20I on West Indies’ tour of India late last year, and followed it up with a 72-ball 61 in the third ODI of the same series. Overall, she has played 62 T20Is, scoring 473 runs in 53 innings at a strike rate of 91.13. She also has 22 wickets from 44 bowling innings.Related

• Deepti Sharma named UP Warriorz captain for WPL 2025

• RCB's title defence hit by player unavailability and injury concerns

• Deepti Sharma-led UP Warriorz set for home debut

• Healy to miss WPL 2025, remains coy about future

• Devine takes break from cricket, set to miss WPL

Garth, who has turned out for Gujarat Giants (GG) in the past, was a big part of Australia’s Ashes campaign, playing all three ODIs, two T20Is and the one-off Test, picking up nine wickets overall. A 28-year-old bowling allrounder who started out with her native Ireland before moving to Australia, Garth has 49 wickets from 59 T20Is to go with 764 runs.Graham, also 28, has been a part of the WPL in the past, with Mumbai Indians (MI), but hasn’t played a game in the tournament. And though highly rated in Australia, where she has been a part of Hobart Hurricanes and Perth Scorchers in the WBBL, she has only played one ODI and five T20Is in an international career that started in 2019. She has eight wickets in T20Is.Charlie Dean, the England spinner, had earlier been named as replacement for the injured Sophie Molineux at RCB.The third edition of the WPL will kick off on February 14 with a match between RCB and GG in Vadodara.

He steps down from the role after Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup

Firdose Moonda20-Dec-2023Dave Houghton has resigned as Zimbabwe men’s head coach, 18 months after accepting the job last June. After Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the T20 World Cup and their defeat in both the ODIs and T20I series to Ireland, Houghton told ESPNcricinfo he felt the players were “not responding to my voice anymore.”Walter Chawaguta, who coached Zimbabwe in 2008, will take over as interim coach for the tour of Sri Lanka in January. ZC announced that Chawaguta will lead a support staff 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).Houghton will remain with ZC and will be reassigned to a different role at the organisation as he hopes to stay involved in the development of the country’s cricketers.”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 in a ZC statement. “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 also indicated that they have parted ways with Houghton on good terms and chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani called him a “legend of our game,” who the organisation “regrets,” to let go from this role. “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,” Mukuhlani said. “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.”Related

• Hamilton Masakadza steps down as Zimbabwe director of cricket

• Ervine returns to Zimbabwe squads for the tour of Sri Lanka; Williams out injured

• Houghton slams 'embarrassingly bad' Zimbabwe loss to Namibia

Recent results are a major concern for Zimbabwe after they were defeated by Associate teams Namibia and Uganda at the recent T20 World Cup qualifier, where they became the only Full Member to miss out on the 2024 tournament. They also lost to Scotland at the ODI World Cup Qualifiers in July, which scuppered their hopes of participating in the recently concluded World Cup, despite winning the hearts of their nation. Zimbabwe had earlier in the competition beat West Indies and Houghton’s methods seemed to be working. While they did not take Zimbabwe to the 50-over World Cup, the highlight of his time in charge was the 2022 T20 World Cup, when Zimbabwe made it through the first round and into the Super 12s and players credited him with giving them the “freedom,” to express themselves.That tournament is the only World Cup out of a possible five that Zimbabwe have featured in over the last five years. They missed out on the 2019 and 2023 50-over World Cups and 2021 and 2024 T20 World Cups. As a consequence of not being at the 2023 World Cup, they will also not play in the 2025 Champions Trophy, which leaves their next opportunity for a men’s World Cup in 2026, at the T20 event. ZC has appointed a three-person committee, chaired by renowned lawyer Lloyd Mhishi, to look into the reasons behind the team’s failure to qualify for major tournaments and review the current structure.