Cricket: Lying in wait for England; close-up; David Houghton

Zimbabwe's player-coach has already embarrassed the tourists, and promises to keep doing so.

As far as David Houghton is concerned, it is not a matter of whether Zimbabwe's cricketers are going to beat England over their forthcoming two-Test series, but by how much. "I don't have any doubts," the team's player-coach said last week. "I'm just not sure if it'll be 1-0 or 2-0. In fact the only worry I have is that my guys might get complacent."

This ought to sound like the height of bravado, or at the very least as if it is stretching the limits of kidology. That it doesn't is not only because of the ominous way England had just capitulated to a Mashonaland team for whom Houghton scored 110 and 34, but because the words come from somebody acknowledged as one of cricket's foremost tacticians, an imaginative and respected coach, a vastly experienced and gifted practitioner of the game, and above all a shrewd judge of what is feasible and what is not, who thinks before he speaks. "David's very good at choosing the right word at the right moment," says Tim Curtis of Worcestershire, where Houghton has coached for the last two years.

At 39, Houghton is more than just the elder statesman of Zimbabwean cricket. In many ways he is Zimbabwean cricket - a player and, latterly, inspiration whose own fortunes have been inseparable from those of a country where he has figured prominently since long before they gained Test status four years ago.

Houghton, who attended the same Harare school as Graeme Hick and the golfers Nick Price and Mark McNulty, made his debut in 1978-79 when as pre-independence, apartheid-practising Rhodesia they were banned from international sport and had to content themselves with a place in the Currie Cup, South Africa's first-class championship. He is the only survivor from the first World Cup in which Zimbabwe competed, in 1983. He was the captain when they entered the Test arena, against India in Harare in 1992- 93, marking the occasion with a hundred. He was there when Zimbabwe gained their only Test win so far, against Pakistan in Harare two years later. And now, in a player-coach position unique in Test cricket, he is working on the coda to a remarkable career - the masterminding of England's downfall.

Coaching, Houghton says, has always been more of a calling for him than playing. While, in the 1980s, English counties were either overlooking him or were ignorant of his talents, Houghton spent the months from April to September playing initially in a Midlands league for Blossomfield in Solihull and then, for four years until 1990, for a Dutch league team in The Hague. "In Holland I used to coach from two in the afternoon until eight in the evening every day during the week and then play at weekends.

I hated the idea of being one of those pros on whom everyone counted. The whole idea was that when I left they should be good enough to play without a coach."

When, in 1991, he came back to Birmingham as the professional for West Bromwich Dartmouth, a local league team, he told them: "I'm not going to bat at three or four and be relied on for all the runs. I'll bat at six, and coach." He made enough of a mark for Worcestershire to cotton on to him, and in 1994 he joined them as 2nd XI captain. The following year he took over as first-team coach, part of a movement of free-thinking coaches from overseas - Darryl Foster of Kent was already here; Dave Gilbert of Surrey and Les Stillman of Derbyshire would follow - who were beginning to drag English county cricket into the modern era.

"David is a brilliant sportsman all round," Curtis says, "and that brings him respect. Not only that but he doesn't do things by the coaching manual. He's an improviser and an innovator, and because people like that are capable of seeing things differently, it makes them more open to ideas."

The batting methods Houghton practises himself and encourages in others are unconventional to say the least. A compact right-hander, he advocates the sweep shot to spin bowlers, for example, virtually as an article of faith. "It's not that he can't play the other shots," Curtis says, "but it's the hallmark of someone with a good eye, as opposed to a technically correct player, that they can play the cross-batted shots well - sweeps, cuts and pulls. He's always aiming to disrupt the field, looking for singles, angling and deflecting the ball - the sort of things that a side like Zimbabwe that doesn't necessarily have the out-and-out quality will be looking to make up with." Houghton is a great scavenger of other people's tricks of the trade. He admits that a lot of his batting ploys he has picked up from watching Javed Miandad.

The need to maximise resources - there is a pool of about 25 players to select from for the Tests - has meant Houghton changing the whole approach to practice. Group nets are out. "I do everything on a one-to-one basis. I'll work with a batsman for, say, an hour, and that will include at least 20 minutes working on the sweep shot. With the bowlers I work in the old- fashioned way - line and length. We don't have huge strike bowlers and the only way you're going to get people out is by building up the pressure. That means being accurate and disciplined."

Then there is the fielding, which Houghton sets great store by, believing that this is one area where Zimbabwe should be able to compete with all other sides on equal terms. He is noted for the ingenuity of his fielding games, and the length of his fielding practices before play begins, which can be anything up to an hour and a half. "We want to make sure that when we go on the park people are scared to hit the ball in the air or take singles."

Fear doesn't come into it as far as his own team are concerned. "He's not the sergeant-major type in the slightest," Curtis says. "He's very laid back. He's a witty guy, very sharp, but an easy person to get on with." Which he needs to be if the unusual arrangement whereby Houghton coaches and plays but someone else captains is to work.

The Zimbabwean Board decided that with Houghton nearing retirement, the captaincy should go to a younger man - the left-hand batsman Alistair Campbell, who took over from Andy Flower at the start of this season at the same time as Houghton became coach. "It was difficult to begin with," Houghton said. "I didn't really know where the chain of authority started and ended. But we had a chat about it and it's working fine now. I know I get over-involved sometimes, and when that happens I just have to take myself off to fine leg." Wherever he is, though, England must take note.

The history of Zimbabwe cricket

Pre-1980: As Rhodesia, compete in Currie Cup with South African states.

1980: Gain independence and admitted to International Cricket Conference

1983: Qualify for World Cup, with 17-year-old Graeme Hick in squad. In group match at Trent Bridge, beat an Australian team including Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh.

1984: Hick leaves to play for Worcestershire and begin seven-year qualification period for England.

1992-93: Years of lobbying pay off with granting of Test status. One- off inaugural Test, against India in Harare, ends in draw. Followed by 1-0 losses at home to New Zealand and away to India.

1993-94: Andy Flower succeeds David Houghton as captain. Beaten 2-0 in Pakistan.

1994-95: Houghton hits 266, Zimbabwe's highest individual Test score, in second Test v Sri Lanka at Bulawayo. All three Tests drawn. Win a Test at the 11th attempt, beating Pakistan by innings and 64 runs in Harare. Still lose series 2-1.

1995-96: Lose 1-0 at home to South Africa and draw two-Test series in New Zealand.

1996-97: Alistair Campbell succeeds Flower as captain. Beaten 2-0 in Sri Lanka and 1-0 in Pakistan.

Test record: P 20, W 1, D 9, L 10