“The Zimbabwe Cricket Board has accepted Dave Houghton’s resignation from his position as head coach of the Zimbabwe senior men’s national team with immediate effect,” the board said in a statement.
“Houghton said he had ‘lost the change room’ after 18 months in charge and felt that a ‘new voice’ was needed to take the team forward,” the statement added.
His resignation letter was sent just ahead of a board meeting Wednesday to look into the World Cup campaign. Zimbabwe lost to Namibia and Uganda at a recent qualifying tournament.
Zimbabwe have also just been beaten in a limited overs series against Ireland.
Houghton, 66, replaced Lalchand Rajput as Zimbabwe coach in June last year after six one-day and Twenty20 losses at home to Afghanistan.
The board said he would be assigned to a “new role within the organisation”.
“Dave will always be a legend of our game and it is with regret that he felt the change room needed a new voice,” said board chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani.
“While the past few months have been disappointing as we failed to qualify for both the 50-over World Cup and the T20 World Cup, they should not obscure all the work he has done over the past year to rebuild the foundations for long-term success.”
Houghton, who captained the team in their first four Test matches and 17 one-day internationals, commented: “I have always had Zimbabwe cricket at heart and, though my coaching of the national team comes to an end, I would love to be involved in other areas.
“The talent base in Zimbabwe is enormous. How we move players from talented to performing well on the international stage is a great project to be involved in.”
The board said an interim management team would be named for a tour to Sri Lanka in January.
It has also appointed a committee that has been given three weeks to look into the World Cup failures and the national structure.