Former Zimbabwe batsman Dave Houghton has been named the team’s new head coach, ahead of the country’s T20 World Cup qualifier next month. The 64-year-old succeeds Lalchand Rajput, who has been promoted to technical director.
Houghton had earlier coached Zimbabwe in the late 1990s, leading them to the Super Six stage of the 1999 World Cup in England, following dramatic group-stage victories over India and South Africa. Houghton has also worked as a coach for Derbyshire, Middlesex, and a number of other English county cricket sides. In domestic cricket, he most recently coached the Mountaineers.
Rajput’s coaching contract with Zimbabwe Cricket was recently renewed in March, although the board has since restructured the support team.
Zimbabwe’s preparation for the T20 World Cup qualifier is in chaos after being washed 3-0 at home by Afghanistan, but Hamilton Masakadza, a former batter and current director of cricket at ZC, anticipated that Houghton’s arrival will help them turn things around.
Masakadza welcomed Houghton saying, “We are delighted to be bringing in Dave and we count ourselves fortunate and privileged to be able to appoint such a vastly experienced and highly respected head coach at a time we are looking to improve our on-field performances,”
Lance Klusener, who has already returned to Zimbabwe’s support staff as batting coach, will aid Houghton. Masakadza also welcomed him in the media statement, “With Lance having also bounced back as batting coach, we believe we now have a formidable technical team that can push for World Cup qualification and ensures our players put in consistently competitive performances. I would also like to thank Lalchand who has been in charge of the team for the past four years, an incredibly challenging period for our cricket.”
Hope that the changes will help Zimbabwe cricket grow and interest the young generation to opt to play cricket professionally.
