Hamilton Masakadza steps down as Zimbabwe Director of Cricket

By Agencies

HARARE: Hamilton Masakadza has resigned as the Zimbabwe Director of Cricket, Zimbabwe Cricket announced on Thursday. The former cricketer decided to vacate the position after Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the marquee event for the very first time. They played in the inaugural edition in 2007 before withdrawing from the 2009 edition due to political reasons. They played in the next four editions from 2010 to 2016 before missing the 2021 edition due to the suspension of Zimbabwe Cricket. In 2022, they returned to the T20 World Cup and registered a famous victory over finalists Pakistan.

And while they were one of the favourites from Africa to qualify for this year’s T20 World Cup, they failed. The African could only manage a third-position finish in the Africa Qualifier, suffering a defeat to Namibia and an upset loss against Uganda along the way. Eventually, Uganda and Namibia booked their spots in the main competition.

One of the lowest points of my career: Hamilton Masakadza

Hamilton Masakadza, who took over as Director of Cricket in 2019 after retiring from all formats, expressed his disappointment over Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the tournament. He called it one of the lowest points of his career and took full responsibility for Zimbabwe’s failure.

“This decision has come about after careful consideration of the successes and failures of our cricket and my responsibilities. As much as there has been a lot of progress in my tenure, the fact remains that we are the only Full Member nation not participating in the next T20 World Cup after our shock loss to Uganda.

“This was indeed one of the lowest points of my career and I take full responsibility as Director of Cricket,” said Hamilton Masakadza.

While the former cricketer stepped down as the director of cricket, he will remain associated with Zimbabwe cricket. He wants to be involved in the staging of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2026 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027. Both competitions are set to be co-hosted by Zimbabwe.

“This decision was a very difficult one to make and I remain fully committed to Zimbabwe Cricket and would very much be interested in serving in a different capacity as the organisation looks forward to hosting the Men’s U19 World Cup in 2026 and the Men’s 50-over World Cup in 2027,” Masakadza said.