He was deemed as a loyal servant to Zimbabwe cricket according to several critics and pundits and he was also lauded for choosing country over lucrative offers.
However, he could not continue to serve in the police force due to change in governing policies at that time and pursued his interest in cricket in order to make money.
His most memorable ODI innings was against New Zealand in the 1987 Reliance World Cup, in which Houghton scored 142 runs off 137 deliveries with 13 fours and 6 sixes.
His record was later surpassed by Adam Voges of Australia who then went onto become the oldest ever debutant in test cricket history to score a hundred at the age of 35 years and 8 months.
[1] He also added a crucial 165 run stand for the fifth wicket with Andy Flower which propelled Zimbabwe to put up a huge score on the board in their first innings.
In December 1997, he announced his retirement from all formats of the game at the age of 40 citing consistent and regular knee injuries during his latter stage of his career.
Whilst in this role his best achievement was taking Radlett to victory in the Evening Standard Trophy, a knockout competition for London club sides.
He resumed the job role in August 2009 and served as technical director to national team and age group coaches.
He served Somerset in a similar role in 2014 (prior to the arrival of then director of cricket Matthew Maynard) before joining Middlesex for a four-year spell as batting coach on 10 November 2014.