News
Graemer Cremer Loses His Job, Zimbabwe Coaching Staff Gets Ultimatum
By CricShots - Mar 30, 2018 10:55 am
Views 66
Zimbabwe Cricket has come up with a pretty harsh reaction to the team’s failure to qualify for the ICC World Cup 2019. They have decided to do a clean-up process in the squad and they have started by removing captain Graeme Cremer and giving Heath Streak and his coaching staff a deadline by which they must resign.

Cremer
Graeme Cremer

On Thursday, Cremer got the information of Board’s decision, while Streak and other support staff have been given an ultimatum. In a brief email sent to Streak by Faisal Hasnain on Thursday evening, read, “Further to our discussions, please give your technical staff (and yourself included) until 3 PM tomorrow to formally resign. After which time the technical team can consider themselves dismissed and relieved of their duties with immediate effect.”

Also read: Cremer Was On The Verge of Indulging In Match-Fixing

While Streak’s contract is scheduled to be getting over in October, the majority of his support staff have contracts expiring at the end of May. It is understood that the group, which includes batting coach Lance Klusener, bowling coach Douglas Hondo, fielding coach Walter Chawaguta, team analyst Stanley Chiwoza and strength and conditioning coach Sean Bell, have taken legal counsel in order to determine a response to ZC.

Heath Streak

If Streak gets sacked, he will be fourth Zimbabwean coach to be pushed out of ZC’s revolving door since Alan Butcher left the post of his own accord in March 2013. ZC’s process of cleaning the team is set to be extended to other teams within its structures, with Under-19 coach Stephen Mangongo and ‘A’ team coach Wayne James also expected to be sacked from their roles. Zimbabwe’s Under-19 squad couldn’t make it to the further stages of the World Cup in January, while the A team was thrashed 5-0 on a tour of the United Arab Emirates last year.

Also read: Heath Streak confident on Dinesh Karthik’s leadership for KKR

The bulk clearout by ZC will raise questions of who will fill in the positions, given the general lack of qualified coaches in Zimbabwe. Streak, Klusener, Chawaguta, Bell, and James all possess a level three certificate or better. The prospect of roping in a foreign coach of good standing will also be more challenging after Zimbabwe failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup.