OTD | Zimbabwe’s captain Dave Houghton hammered a brilliant 142 off 137 balls against New Zealand in ODI World Cup 1987

On this day Dave Houghton scored a heroic knock in a losing cause for Zimbabwe against New Zealand which was one of the best knocks in the 1987 ODI World Cup. 1n 1987 the World Cup came to the subcontinent. Zimbabwe and New Zealand locked horns in the fourth match of the tournament at Hyderabad. New Zealand batted first and put up a decent total of 242 runs on the board. Opener Martin Snedden and Veteran Martin Crowe played crucial knocks to ensure New Zealand scored close to 250. Kevin Curran, Peter Rawson, and Ali Shah picked up a couple of wickets to help Zimbabwe restrict New Zealand to a chasable total. 

Zimbabwe could not get off to a good start in the chase as they lost two wickets very early in their innings. Openers Robin Brown and Ali Shah were dismissed quickly by the Kiwis to put Zimbabwe under pressure. Dave Houghton came in at No.3 and stepped up when his team needed him to do that. Houghton along with Andy Pycroft built a brief partnership of 51 runs to give some respite to Zimbabwe but an unfortunate run out sent Pycroft back. 

Also read: OTD: Australia registered close victory against India in Chennai during 1987 Cricket World Cup 

Once this partnership was broken Zimbabwe started crumbling. At one stage Zimbabwe was 104/7 but Dave Houghton still stood strong. He was supported by Ian Butchart in the lower order to give some hope to Zimbabwe. Houghton and Butchart built a massive partnership of 117 runs to keep Zimbabwe in the contest even when it appeared that it was all over for their side. Butchart was dismissed by Snedden when Zimbabwe was on the verge of chasing them down the total. This dismissal created a panic and that resulted in a run out when Eddo Brandes had to go back even without playing a delivery. Zimbabwe just needed four runs to cross the final barrier but once again the lack of communication came to haunt Zimbabwe when Butchart was run out which closed the Zimbabwe innings. 

This close finish made this contest one to remember for a long time. Dave Houghton’s gutsy knock of 142 is arguably the best innings played by a Zimbabwean player in the history of the World Cup.