December 1997 brought the end of an era for cricket in Zimbabwe, as Dave Houghton, at the age of 40 the oldest and one of the most remarkable players in international cricket, announced his retirement. He may well go down on record as the biggest single contributor to cricket in the country. He has made an immense contribution to the game, scoring at the time of his retirement not far short of twice as many runs for the country as the next best, and will continue to do so as coach.
With only two first-class centuries before the age of 30 and denied Test cricket until the age of 35, he had at the time of his retirement the thirteenth-highest average of any current Test batsman. He could still master any bowling attack in the world, particularly the spinners, and it seemed ridiculous that he retire when he was batting as well as at any time in his career. He remained totally loyal to Zimbabwe throughout his career, and has never been tempted away by fine offers to play elsewhere, as were several other leading Zimbabweans before Test status was granted.
Dave gave three main reasons for his retirement. The immediate reason was that he had been battling with nagging back and knee injuries, mostly niggles which troubled him the next morning after a long day in the field. This was particularly unfortunate, because his expertise against the home team's spin bowlers in conditions that favoured them would have been absolutely invaluable. Secondly, he had been so busy with his job as the national team coach that he had had insufficient time to concentrate on his own game. Finally, he now felt, especially with the return of Murray Goodwin, that Zimbabwe had enough young batsmen of high calibre and that he should not stand in the way of their progress...
He was also a wicket-keeper at that stage; he 'just happened' to be a keeper at all the sports he played, keeping goal in soccer and hockey -- in fact, he was the national side's hockey goalkeeper for several years. Kallimullah, the Pakistan hockey captain at that time has gone on record as saying that he regarded Dave as the greatest goalkeeper he had ever played against. As a boy he enjoyed being involved in the action all the time, and he continued to play behind the stumps until his early thirties when, as he puts it, he `saw the light'; he had long since ceased to enjoy the job. A painful hand condition, caused by the constant battering of the ball, was also a major factor...
After independence, he usually continued in his dual role, although occasionally played as a batsman only, while Robin Brown kept wicket. However, it was generally agreed that Dave was the better of the two, and many judges still rate Dave as Zimbabwe's best keeper since independence. His ability as a hockey goalkeeper stood him in good stead; he had very quick reflexes, was very agile standing back, and also achieved some brilliant dismissals when standing up to the stumps.
