Zimbabwe Axe Coach Brown - Reports

Chingoka - done away with Brown's services?

Zimbabwe Cricket has decided to dispense of the services of coach Robin Brown, according to reports on Cricinfo.

Brown, whose one-year contract as national coach began in August last year, will not have his deal extended according to sources within Zimbabwe, while Zimbabwe A coach Andy Pycroft has also been dismissed.

It is rumoured that Takashinga Cricket Club, a largely black club from Harare with strong links to Zimbabwe Cricket, have had a major say in the decision to axe Brown, who they say has favoured white players.

"Axes were always being sharpened for Brown barely days into the job," an 'insider' told the website.

"This is one of the indistinct circumstances a coach has been fired. There is a certain power-hungry group which controls Zimbabwe Cricket from outside the top brass. Unfortunately we have a meek administration so they are easily controlled by them."

Neither Brown nor someone from the board were available for comment, but it is believed that Steve Mangongo - a Takashinga official with limited coaching experience - would fill in as an interim coach as officials decide who will take the job on a permanent basis.

"All the home-grown candidates have either been tried or turned their backs," a former player told Cricinfo. "Nobody with any credibility from overseas would touch the job, so you wonder who on earth they will turn to."