obin Brown. Curran, quoted in the Herald, this week said, “When my contract ended, Zimbabwe Cricket asked me to rebuild and restructure the academy. It was a new venture and new challenge for me and one that would allow me to spend more time with my young family – something I have not managed to do of late because of all the travelling of international cricket.”
Curran coached Zimbabwe in 42 ODIs after taking over from West Indian Phil Simmons. Although there were many lows during his tenure, Curran is positive in his outlook and reflected more on the positives and said he’d observed a definite improvement in the side’s performances over the last two years.
“Everyone who has played for the country since I took over has improved in the true sense of the word,” he said. “I am not one who looks at negatives. Coaching a young and inexperienced side, as I was doing, demanded constantly looking at the positives. I was presented with the youngest international squad in the history of the game and I am very proud of the way they have all developed.”
Curran also dismissed media reports of a rift with former captain Tatenda Taibu. After a premature retirement in November 2005, Taibu made an immediate impact on his return to the side, achieving his maiden ODI century against South Africa in the third ODI at Harare.
“Tatenda was not my player for very long because he left after I had just taken over. However, he came back a month ago and since then he has played his best cricket. His averages have more than doubled, his work ethic been outstanding, and he is one of the fittest in the team. He is always the last in the nets and is an excellent role model for our young team.
Curran said that his last series in charge was one of the best moments as a coach for Zimbabwe, who pushed South Africa all the way during the three-match ODI series. Zimbabwe begin their preparations for the Twenty20 World Championship with a warm up 20/20 match against Pakistan at Centurion Park near Pretoria in South Africa on Saturday (8 September).