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WE ARE SORRY . . . Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Wilson Manase (left) addresses a media conference in Harare yesterday in the company of the organisation managing director, Wilfred Mukondiwa, where the ZC boss apologised to the nation for the national team’s losses on their tour of Bangladesh

Caroline Magenga Sports reporter
ZIMBABWE Cricket chairman Wilson Manase has apologised to the nation for the humiliation suffered by the national team at the hands of Bangladesh. Steve Mangongo and his men were whitewashed 0-3 in the Test series and crashed to a 0-5 whitewash in the ODIs at the hands of the Tigers.

Manase said ZC expected the team to do better even though the conditions in the Asian sub-continent favoured the hosts.

“This Press conference comes against the background of us losing to Bangladesh and that one, for us, is of great concern,” Manase told dozens of journalists at a media conference in Harare.

“I appreciate, though, that it is a tricky terrain in Bangladesh so, maybe, if they were playing here, things would have been different.

“I am a very humble man and where things go wrong I must take the blame and I am saying to the nation, who were so expectant and sat glued (to their televisions) watching the games every day, we are very sorry.

“We are sorry for how the team performed and the results obtained.

“We will get back to you after they give us a report and say if they will be any measures.

“This is a national game and everyone is interested in the development of this game and to see that its management, in terms of having proper structures, is perfect.”

The team is expected to arrive this evening from Bangladesh where they spent close to a month on tour.

Meanwhile, ZC has unveiled a new administrative structure as part of their efforts to improve the running of the sport in the country.

The new posts, which include that of managing director of cricket, director of coaching and general manager cricket operations, were endorsed by board members during the ZC board meeting last week.

Manase said this was part of their drive to make the organisation a better structure.

“We have decided to restructure our administration at Zimbabwe Cricket level and this is something that was approved last Friday during our board meeting,” Manase said.

“We decided to bring in an MD (cricket) and that individual should have either played first class cricket or Test cricket at best and we have got a number of names who fit that.

“One of the people on that list is Alistair Campbell, we talked to him, and he agreed but we are still chatting because it’s still an open position and we are going to hold interviews.

“We’ll have a director of coaching but we already have that post filled by Mr (Andy) Waller and then we will have a GM cricket operations and general manager cricket development.

“We have decided to put a structure which everyone can identify with and we are aiming at getting the best talent to run this end of things so we perform and are competitive internationally and locally.

“These structures are coming into place with immediate effect as soon as we finish our interviews to ensure that we improve the game as these structures will deal directly with results on the field.

“We want high performance so that we create a brand and win investor confidence.”

Manase said they were also talking to the England and Wales Cricket Board to try and restore ties.

“England had stopped playing us and we now have to make sure that the situation changed and the first thing I thought of doing was to engage the ECB at ICC level and I am glad to report the ECB agreed to play us and put us in their programme for 2018 and 2019,” said the Harare lawyer.

“We both agreed that politics and sport should not mix so that is also a big plus and we should have improved our play by then so that we give them a good challenge.

“In order to move from where we are we need to continue being active in the game by playing other countries.

“The issue of sanctions affected the games because our team’s performance was measured by the number of teams we played and you know there was even a time when we were only playing Bangladesh.

“Things only changed two, three years ago when we had New Zealand and Australia coming to play and, of late, we have talked to Pakistan and we have offered them games here, after the World Cup, and in their country, which is a plus.”