Introduction
David Laud Houghton (born 23 June 1957) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current head coach of Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
He captained Zimbabwe in their first four Test matches and led the team in 17 One Day Internationals (ODI).
Other sports
Houghton also represented his country in hockey and was described by the Pakistan hockey team captain as the best goalkeeper he had ever played against.
International career
Houghton holds the record for the highest Test score by a Zimbabwean, with his 266 against Sri Lanka in 1994/5.He still holds the Test Match record for the most runs in a career without a duck, with 1,464. His most memorable one day international innings was against New Zealand in the 1987 Reliance World Cup, in which Houghton scored 142 runs off 137 deliveries with 13 fours and 6 sixes. This innings brought Zimbabwe to the brink of a surprise victory, but New Zealand won by only 3 runs, and is the highest score by an Associate Batsman against a Test playing nation, taking place as it did before Zimbabwe were granted Test Status.Since retiring as a player, Houghton has gone on to become a coach and commentator.
Coaching career
Before he was the coach of Derbyshire County Cricket Club he coached Radlett Cricket Club in Hertfordshire. Whilst in this role his best achievement was taking Radlett to victory in the Evening Standard trophy which is London's most prestigious cricket competition.
He initially coached Derbyshire from 2004 until the middle of the 2007 season when he resigned. He returned as first team batting coach 2011–2013.
He served Somerset in a similar role in 2014 (prior to the arrival of then director of cricket Matthew Maynard) before joining Middlesex for a four year spell as batting coach on 10 November 2014.
He was appointed to a newly created role as Head of Cricket by Derbyshire in September 2018 which took effect in October.
Records
- Fastest Zimbabwean test cricketer to reach 1000 test runs (24 innings).
- He along with Iain Butchart set the record for the highest 8th wicket partnership in ICC Cricket World Cup history (117)