The Zimbabwe Cricket team has appointed Steve Kirby as its new bowling coach. He is likely to join the team ahead of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia. The 44-year-old has had a long county career as a fast bowler in England.
Karbi has total experience of 348 matches in different formats of cricket. He has played 167 First Class, 104 List A and 77 T20 matches. Karby then began his second innings in coaching and last served as bowling coach for Somerset.
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Karby has also worked with current Zimbabwe head coach Dave Houghton in Derbyshire. On being appointed as Zimbabwe’s bowling coach, Karby was quoted as saying, “My aspirations are to be the best coach and international cricket is something I really wanted to be involved in.” I’ve worked with Dave Houghton before when we were in Derbyshire. When the offer of this position came to me, I did not feel that it should be let go.
He further said, ‘This role is very encouraging as I will not only work with the National XI, but will be involved in the entire cricketing structure of the country.’
Curby won the County Championship with Yorkshire and has represented Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and the MCC.
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Curby was fined for ball-tampering during his stint with Gloucestershire. Curby was handed a suspended ban for deliberately sliding the ball towards a car parking lot during the match against Glamorgan, which was later lifted.
Hamilton Masakadza, Zimbabwe’s Director of Cricket, said: “We are delighted to have Steve Karby as our senior national team’s bowling coach. He has done a great job as a player and coach in county cricket and we are focused on strengthening all aspects of our game. We are hopeful that our performance will improve under Karbi. We consider ourselves lucky to be a part of our technology set-up.
Zimbabwe will compete in Group B along with Ireland, West Indies and Scotland in the opening round of the T20 World Cup. She will begin her tournament campaign against Ireland on 17 October. At the same time, before this practice matches will be played against Sri Lanka and Namibia.
