AFTER failing to qualify for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India as well as hitting a new low by failing to make it among the top two nations at the International Cricket Council T-20 World Cup Qualifier Africa Region, it has triggered questions on whether it is time to refresh the technical team.
The Chevrons could be forgiven for missing out on the 50-over World Cup in India, but watching Uganda and Namibia play at the T-20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA will be a bitter pill to swallow for anybody who cares about the game locally.
Zimbabwe’s trail of self-inflicted destruction started with the five-wicket defeat against Netherlands at the T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval in Australia.
That fateful defeat by T20 World Cup debutants, Netherlands, ended the Chevrons’ semi-final hopes and an automatic qualification to the 2024 T20 tournament.
The defeat by the Max O’Dowd and Paul van Meekeren-inspired Dutch meant that Zimbabwe would have to go through the African Qualifiers in Namibia.
Considering the quality in the Chevrons’ dressing room, they were expected to breeze past everyone at this tournament.
But before that, Zimbabwe had another shot at the 50 overs World Cup when they were thrown at the doorstep to host the qualifiers by the ICC in Harare and Bulawayo.
Everything appeared on course until the change of venue for the Super Six stage from Harare during the first round to Bulawayo.
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Zimbabwe gave too much respect to Sri Lanka, losing without a fight, with a nine-wicket defeat that came with 101 balls remaining on July 2.
Scotland lay in wait, shockingly beating Zimbabwe by 31 runs two days later, putting paid to the Chevrons’ final hopes and with it missing out on a place to India.
After missing out on playing in the world’s biggest cricketing destination, India, the hope was the boys were pained enough to bully every opposition for a place to the Caribbean and America but the opposite rang true.
It was Namibia and Uganda who bullied Zimbabwe, the former registering a nine-wicket win while the latter won by five wickets.
No matter how convincing the last matches against Nigeria, Rwanda and Kenya were, it was of no consequence.
Even their Test status and pedigree in the game could not intimidate Namibia and Uganda.
But having failed into two qualifiers, one which they hosted and had so much in their favour and the other where they arrived as the highest ranked side with the biggest profile, could this be the time to inject fresh ideas to take the team forward?
Dave Houghton and crew have done a lot and recorded some amazing results like the Chevrons beating Pakistan at the T-20 World Cup, but their return in the qualifiers trigger doubts that they can take the team to The Promised Land.
But if Houghton and company are to go it is equally hard to see anyone on the local scene who can take over and take the team forward.
