Houghton to step down as Derbyshire head
DERBYSHIRE cricket is at another crossroads with the news that Dave Houghton is to step down as the county’s head of cricket, writes Colston Crawford.
The club have started to look for a successor, with Houghton’s decision coming as the county limp towards the end of another hugely disappointing season on the field.
Injuries, especially the one which has kept their best batsman, Wayne Madsen, sidelined for much of the season, have not helped the county’s cause.
It also remains the case – and will for the foreseeable future – that the policies being pursued by the England & Wales Cricket Board, which continue to result in a muddled schedule for the county game, are particularly disadvantageous to the game’s “smaller” counties.
It does not help any coach to thrive.
There have been promising signs of development among several younger members of the squad, not least the maiden first-class centuries posted this week by Brooke Guest and Anuj Dal and the continuing improvement of opening bowler Sam Conners.
But Houghton’s critics also point to an often baffling inconsistency of selection and changes in the batting order as performances have not matched promise.
Houghton’s most successful area in his coaching career has been in batting but the Derbyshire top order have all struggled this season and Matt Critchley’s early century had been the only one until Guest, Dal and Billy Godelman defied Leicestershire this week.
Houghton, now 64, has had three spells with Derbyshire and was batting coach when the club won the County Championship Division Two title in 2012.
He was appointed head of cricket in 2018 before Derbyshire’s first Vitality Blast Finals Day appearance in 2019.
This season, though, Derbyshire finished last in the Royal London cup group stages, stayed secondbottom of their Vitality Blast Group when Covid-19 stopped them playing their last two games and may well finish bottom of Division Three in the second half of the four-day season after finishing a distant last in the six-team group for the first half of the campaign.
They have not won a Championship game this season, nor, realistically, come close.
Chairman Ian Morgan said: “It has been a bitterly disappointing season, much of which, including injuries, has been out of Dave’s control.
“It is the mark of the man that he has taken responsibility for on-field performances.
“He leaves a squad which contains a number of young talented players who will develop their skills in the coming seasons.
“On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to thank Dave for his integrity and commitment throughout his tenure and wish him the very best for the future.”
Houghton said: “It has been a challenging season in many ways, and I believe it is the right time to step aside for both myself and the club.
“I hope to be leaving the club in a better position than when I took on the role and with a good squad and a highly-promising pathway setup, I am confident that Derbyshire will enjoy success in the future.”