David Laud Houghton (born 23 June 1957) is the current batting coach of Middlesex and is a former Zimbabwean Test cricketer. He captained Zimbabwe in their first four Test matches, losing two and drawing two. Zimbabwe won one of the 17 One Day Internationals he was captain for.
Career[]
Probably Zimbabwe's best batsman in their short cricketing history (alongside Andy Flower), 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.[1] 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.
Before he was the coach of Derbyshire County Cricket Club he was the coach at 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 coached Derbyshire from 2004 until the middle of the 2007 season when he resigned.[2]
He returned to Derbyshire as first team batting coach 2011–2013.[3] He served Somerset in a similar role in 2014 (prior to the arrival of director of cricket Matthew Maynard) before joining Middlesex on 10th November 2014.
Records[]
- Fastest Zimbabwean test cricketer to reach 1000 test runs(24 innings).[4]