He will be responsible for all cricket management and will be aided by the former India and New Zealand coach, John Wright, who will undertake a new advisory role at the county. Wright has recently acted as a specialist T20 coach for Derbyshire.

Houghton will be returning to familiar territory at Derbyshire, having been their director of cricket from 2004 to 2007 and their batting coach for three years at the start of this decade.

[caption id=”attachment_79706″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] Houghton joins Derbyshire from Middlesex[/caption]

Away from his coaching career, Houghton was a fine cricketer in his own right, captaining Zimbabwe in their first four Tests and finishing with a batting average of over 43 from 22 Tests.

“I have really enjoyed my time at Middlesex and I’m grateful for their understanding,” Houghton said. It has been a difficult decision, but the opportunity to take up the head of cricket role at Derbyshire was not one I wanted to miss.

“There is an excellent group at Derbyshire, led by club captain Billy Godleman, who are committed to improving and I am looking forward to working with them.

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“On a day-to-day basis, we want to make sure we provide greater support to the players and we will put a strong emphasis on development to reinforce the group of experienced and talented guys in the dressing room.

“It’s clear that the club has made great progress over the last few years and we want to continue this improvement, develop the squad and ultimately be competing for trophies.”

Derbyshire have had a promising 2018 season so far, currently placing sixth in Division Two of the County Championship after performing competitively in the T20 Blast.