adminA FEW months ago, Zimbabwe cricket was at its nadir, their most recent ignominy a crushing home series clean sweep at Afghanistan’s hands.
In a bid to try and stall the side’s downward spiral, Zimbabwe Cricket appointed former captain Dave Houghton (DH) as head coach.
Since then, the team has enjoyed an astonishing revival.
Here, Houghton speaks about the method behind the side’s reversal of fortunes and his plans for Zimbabwe cricket.
Let’s talk about the T20I series win against Bangladesh. What did that tell you about this Zimbabwe side?
DH: Obviously we’re delighted to take that T20 series, and in the way we won it, which showed great spirit.
What was key for me was that we attacked from bad positions in both the second and third matches, something we wouldn’t have done in the past.
We’ve also used a number of different players through the series and that’s part of my effort to broaden our base. So that is hugely encouraging.
While the standard of opposition wasn’t as good [as Bangladesh] in the [T20 World Cup] Qualifier, the amount of pressure upon us to qualify almost made up for it. The biggest thing for me, though, is that we played [against Bangladesh] with the same intensity and fearlessness as we played those qualifiers. And if we can bring that to the table during these games, I think we will be a very good challenge for most sides.
You’ve had instant impact after coming in at a low ebb for Zimbabwe cricket/ Why do you think that happened?
DH: I knew the guys pretty well. I was involved last year with local franchise cricket coaching, so I knew the players and what I’d seen last year is that there’s some very, very talented and highly skilled players. But when they play for Zimbabwe, they don’t seem to want to get their skills out.
All I’ve done up until now is basically said to them that I want them to play fearless cricket. There will be no recriminations if they make mistakes. Making mistakes is a good way of learning, but I want them to go out and play with their skills, because we’ll never know how good we are until we actually put our skills on the table.
I think that has been the turning point. We’ve gone out and we’ve played a good, aggressive brand of T20 cricket in particular. And some of the people that watched this were quite amazed at some of the skills our players had. It purely and simply was about them having too much fear of failure. They just weren’t able to actually play to their potential.
Sounds like there are some parallels with what Brendon McCullum seems to be doing with the England Test side?
DH: I think he’s a slightly bigger name doing it with a slightly bigger team. It’s nice to have that comparison, but I think I have a way to go first. Let’s see how we go in six months’ time, when we’ve got through Bangladesh, India and Australia, which are some tough, tough teams, and then the World Cup, and then we’ll see if changes are made and progress has been made.
What did you think you needed to change from Lalchand Rajput’s time and in what areas did you think Zimbabwe were going down in the wrong direction?
DH: It [would be] wrong of me to criticise any previous coach. But, I think that the team had become accustomed to losing. And, unfortunately, as much as winning is a habit, so is losing, and it can be quite hard and frustrating as a coach to try and get that to change.
The board realised that as well, and made the change for Lal and myself to try and get a new voice into the change room to see if we can get an about-turn to that losing habit. But as I said, it’s been purely mental. There’s no time between now and when we get back from Australia to actually do any technical work.
For a period in the last decade or so, Zimbabwe Cricket was viewed as a place with a somewhat dysfunctional, even toxic, workplace culture. Do you detect any of that now and how do you find this work environment?
DH: I can’t really comment about six or seven years ago, but I’ll tell you that when I look back over my 40-year career with Zimbabwe, probably 18 to 20 years as a player, this is probably the best I’ve ever been treated. And [I’m working] with some of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. If there was some toxicity some years ago and rumours creeped out about that, it certainly hasn’t affected me. The people that I work with now are open all the time to suggestions on how we can improve. They’re absolutely fantastic.” – ESPNCricinfo
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter