Dave Houghton

Dave Houghton is one of Zimbabwe's best two batsmen in their short Test history, alongside Andy Flower. Houghton hit 121 in Zimbabwe's inaugural Test, against India at Harare in 1992-93, and cracked 266 - his country's highest Test score so far - against Sri Lanka at Bulawayo in 1994-95. Zimbabwe's first Test captain, Houghton has an exceptional cricket brain that helped him become national coach after a spell in charge at Worcestershire. As a batsman he had the ability to play either long, defensive innings or shorter, attacking ones, and he was a brilliant player of spin, but equally adept against pace. He started life as a wicketkeeper, but became a top-class slip fielder too, possibly helped by his time as Zimbabwe's hockey goalkeeper.
Geoffrey Dean