Lloyd Mutungamiri
16 August 2008
WALTER Chawaguta -- a founding member/player of the Highfield-based Takashinga Cricket Club now dominating most facets of the domestic game -- has been appointed national cricket team coach, putting to rest much speculation within cricketing circles in recent weeks.
An unassuming character who appeared to have been preparing himself for a coaching role from early on in his playing career, Chawaguta (35), takes over the hot-seat from Robin Brown, whose one-year contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket expired at the end of last month.
Chawaguta -- born on October 23, 1972, in Alberton, Transvaal, South Africa -- has previously held various posts within domestic cricket. Among them are assistant national team coach, Under-19 coach and national team selector, in addition to making intermittent appearances as a player for Takashinga, Mashonaland and Centrals, making his first-class debut in 1997.
His elevation to the top coaching job comes amid fierce debate on the sudden departure of former national team captain Brown, who seemed to be doing a decent job of putting together a truly world-class team going by results of an eventful year, in which Zimbabwe stunned world champions Australia at the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 championships in South Africa, last year.
Zimbabwe Cricket managing director Ozias Bvute told Standardsport on Friday that Chawaguta had been in the frame for an eventual takeover of the country's top cricket-coaching job for some time now. He dismissed as "unfounded and baseless" speculation ZC were looking at employing a foreigner, insisting what Zimbabwe needs at the moment is a coach who understands the country's cricketing culture as well as the various challenges the game faces in Zimbabwe. Bvute also spoke on why Brown's contract was not renewed.
"ZC has been sending Walter on secondment with various teams outside the country and he has attended some high-level courses both at home and abroad over the years, as we prepared him for this role," Bvute said. "He is currently a holder of an International Level 3 Coaching Course, which is the highest qualification for anyone to coach a country's national team. It is unwarranted and unfortunate for people to disown their own, and all this speculation that ZC are looking at employing a foreign coach is totally unfounded and baseless."
Bvute insisted Zimbabwean cricket did not need a foreign coach going by past events and what had happened in other sports.
"A foreign coach is not going to solve whatever problems we might be experiencing, and Zimbabwe has had foreign coaches in the past with very limited success, and not just in cricket for that matter, but football, for instance," Bvute said. "ZC did not renew Robin Brown's contract because the players were failing to respond and relate to him and his methods.
"We are putting in a culture we believe will work well for the future of Zimbabwean cricket, taking into account the players that we have and the 2011 World Cup. We should give Walter all the necessary support in his new role and we at ZC have all the respect for him -- his work ethic, his credentials and how he relates to the players and the rest of the staff. The ZC board will ratify his appointment at its next sitting, but he has already started in his new appointment as substantive national team coach."
Chawaguta becomes Zimbabwe's third coach inside a year, after Brown and his predecessor Kevin Curran. He faces the daunting task of trying to revive Zimbabwe's waning fortunes, as the national team continues its slide into oblivion. The side now trails fellow minnows Bangladesh and Ireland on the One-Day-International table.
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