Stephen Mangongo has been relieved of his duties as Zimbabwe head coach, Zimbabwe Cricket has announced.
His dismissal comes just eight weeks before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. ZC chairman Wilson Manase confirmed a replacement would be appointed after Christmas.
Mangongo will continue to work with ZC as part of the under-19 set-up, and Manase revealed there will also be a new, larger selection panel.
"The ZC Board has decided to relieve S (Stephen) Mangongo of his duties as Head Coach with immediate effect," read a Tweet quoting Manese on ZC's Twitter feed.
"Mr. Mangongo will be redeployed to the U19 set up as we believe he is good at identifying talent.
"ZC is in the process of finding a replacement coach, an announcement will be made after Christmas after interviews have been held.
"Givemore Makoni will remain as convenor of selectors, but will have a wider panel to select the team with.
"The selection panel will include D (Douglas) Hondo as assistant/bowling coach, B (Babu) Meman, the coach, and the captain."
Mangongo replaced Andy Waller in July and, while he led his country to a famous one-day international win over Australia in August, that was the only time they tasted victory under him and a recent 5-0 ODI series whitewash against Bangladesh, coupled with a 3-0 Test beating, proved to be the final straw.