Hamilton Masakadza steps down

[kudet]

https://zimcricket.org/news/2842/Masaka ... icket-role

[Googly]

Let's all put what we think his next post is.
I'm going with Convenor. The most powerful post in Zim cricket if given full autonomy.
Alternatively they will create a post for him- HPC Big Boss.

[kudet]

Seems like it’s a mass exodus of some sorts, Steve Kirby is said to have resigned too

[kudet]

Seems like it’s a mass exodus of some sorts, Steve Kirby is said to have resigned too

[Googly]

Ya I heard he'd planned to go back in April. His family are there, I think they may have tried it here and not liked it, or just weren't prepared to give it a shot.

Hammy ain't going anywhere, onward and upward for him.

[zimfan1]

Kirby has gone back to Somerset

Former Somerset fast bowler, Steve Kirby will return to the Club as Bowling Coach.

Steve, who claimed more than 180 wickets for the Club between 2011 and 2014, will reprise the role that he held before taking up the position of Lead Bowling Coach for Zimbabwe in 2022.

Regarding his return, Steve said: “I’d like to hugely thank everyone at Zimbabwe Cricket for giving me the chance to work within the international game during the last few years. It’s an experience that I will never forget, and it was a genuine privilege to be able to work at that level. I’ve met so many fantastic people who I would now class as life-long friends.

“I’ve learned so much during my time away. Working in such a rewarding and humbling country has taught me so much, in particular in the areas of man-management. The benefits of this experience will certainly aid me in any coaching role in the future and I can’t wait to be able to bring these skills to Taunton and help support what is an amazing squad of players.

“However, spending so much time away from my family and children has been difficult. The position at Somerset will give me the chance to spend more time with them, and that’s something that’s very important to me.

[secretzimbo]

Kirby leaving is a big shame. Ngarava has improved vastly in the past two years - Kirbs has done a great job with him. I loved how he belted out the Zim anthem (in all three languages!) before matches too.

A big loss but was probably always only going to be here for a year or two.

[secretzimbo]

Masakadza head of the new high performance academy or whatever, is my bet.

Who’s the new DoC then? Please be Houghton.

I may be wrong here but I thought at the weekend and comms one of the commentators at some point said ‘Dirk Viljoen, the director of cricket’. May have been a slip of the tongue or a mistake or my ears not working.

[kudet]

Isn’t Dirk the „director of cricket operations“ at the moment? I think he has a sort of a managerial role

[Googly]

Dirk was probably doing Masakadza's job anyway, it was a duplicated role, that's an obvious swap. Not that ZC are known for doing obvious things. Makoni was the man on the ground, who then seems to have given that post to Masakadza and then they seem to have given that role to Viljoen. Those roles are blurred, but Vijoen is the junior so in true Zim tradition he'll be doing all the work.
Masakadza is not a people person. He's very quiet and aloof and as a fact is not well liked. He looks after himself, as do and did a number of the senior players. Everyone knows he's the inside man and people don't trust him and are very cautious around him, not easy to change that perception.
In most organisations here the more senior you become the more money you earn and the more free time you have, you delegate, but if you're going down the toilet it should be all hands on deck and everyone tighten their belts. Here we have belt extenders.
The problem is the players who are the heart and soul of this endeavour can't afford belts.
The trick is to keep earning the fat salary and figure out how to make the workers work hard for a pittance. It's vexing if the workers aren't delivering and you need time for golf and trying to figure out where and how to make some extra cash for yourself. You have to fix and maintain the engine room. People here view senior roles as semi-retirement. It's an ingrained and terrible culture. It's not just why cricket is in trouble, it's a malaise that afflicts the whole country.