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Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE Cricket have maintained they were going for substance in their search for a new coach to take the team to a higher level and also qualify for the ICC World T20 coming up in two years’ time.

The Chevrons coaching job became vacant last month when the association terminated Heath Streak’s contract following the team’s failure to qualify for next year’s ICC World Cup to be held in England and Wales.

The union flighted the advert, for the first time yesterday, in which they also invited applications for some positions in the technical team that includes team doctor, physiotherapist and fitness trainer.

The successful candidate is expected to come with his own assistants.

The new technical team is expected to be in place by the time Zimbabwe host Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a T20 International triangular series in June.

The T20I series will run from June 28-July 8 and thereafter Zimbabwe will engage in a One Day International duel against Pakistan from July 13-22.

But, with time running out for the appointments, ZC have since indicated that they have back-up plans for a technical side to lead the national team for the two assignments.

According to the advert flighted yesterday, the candidates must present a coaching plan which shows strategies to achieve qualification in the ICC

World T20 and for the national team to be competitive in all formats of the game and ensure the highest level of performance is achieved and maintained.

The coach must be results oriented with a target to attain  at least eighth position in both the ICC Rankings for the ODI and the T20I versions of the game.

Zimbabwe are currently 11th on the ODI charts and 12th on the T20I charts. Zimbabwe have a difficult task to finish the year in the top eight to avoid going through the qualifiers for the ICC World T20 in 2020.

Among other things the individual should have attained a recognised coaching certificate at a higher level and impeccable record of coaching at first class and international level.

The prospective coach is expected to establish a culture and style of play supported by key systems and processes that will contribute to a consistent high performance and development of Zimbabwe cricketers.

ZC said in a statement that the person should demonstrate a knowledge of the latest technologies and trends in sports software as an added advantage.

Meanwhile, the women’s quadrangular Women’s T20 Challenge gets underway tomorrow at Old Hararians.

The tournament features hosts Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Zimbabwe will open their campaign against Tanzania at Old Hararians A field while Namibia and Uganda clash at the B field. The hosts then take on Namibia in the second game of the day.

Each team is expected to play at least six games in a round robin format with the top two teams meeting in the final next Thursday at Takashinga.

There will also be a third-place play-off at the same venue as curtain raisers.