DHAKA: Stephen Mangongo has been fired as Zimbabwe's coach just eight weeks before the World Cup. Mangongo's dismissal comes after the team lost all eight fixtures on their recent Bangladesh tour, which included three tests and five ODIs.

The board announced Mangongo's departure on Thursday afternoon after a meeting.

No replacement has been announced but Zimbabwe Cricket will hold interviews next week and unveil a new coach after Christmas, reports ESPN cricinfo.

ZC chairman Wilson Manase said that two people were under consideration. "They are experienced people and will do us proud."

"The ZC board has decided to relieve Stephen Mangongo of his duties as head coach with immediate effect... After our Bangladesh tour we decided to conduct an investigation into what happened and also to look at our structures because we needed to move forward and wanted to ensure that the stakeholders and we are satisfied that what we are doing is enhancing the performance on the field," Manase said.

Mangongo will be redeployed to work with the national Under-19 side because the administration believes he is "good at identifying talent," according to Manase.

"Stephen has been pivotal in developing the game of cricket. He delivered. Against Bangladesh we won the series last year and against Australia we won a match which was good. But what we seek is consistency. Because we are going to the World Cup, we need to be very astute in what we are doing."

Mangongo had replaced Andy Waller, who was moved out in July. Waller was given an overseeing role in ZC, looking after cricket at all levels from age-group to the academy, and may come back into contention.

Givemore Makoni, Zimbabwe's convenor of selectors and a man widely thought to be a key ally of Mangongo, retained his post, while it was also announced that the selection panel would be widened to include the national coach, bowling coach Douglas Hondo, former team manager and long-serving administrator Babu Meman and the national captain. The revamped structure will be reviewed after the World Cup, Manase said.

BDST: 2114 HRS, DEC 18, 2014