Dave Houghton interests Bangladesh

Dave Houghton: sounded out by the Bangladesh board © Sky Sports

Bangladesh have sounded out Dave Houghton as a possibility to fill their national coach vacancy, though the Zimbabwean would be a reluctant candidate.

Houghton, Derbyshire's coach, admitted this week an informal approach had been made, but said he would have to think hard about working abroad after relocating his family, including his parents, in England. The Bangladesh board have also spoken to Richard McInnes, Australia's team performance analyst, who coached Bangladesh development teams for two years until 2005.

The resignation of Dav Whatmore has left Bangladesh with a sizeable gap to fill, though their cricket infrastructure has improved dramatically under Shaun Williams, the Australian director of cricket acting as temporary coach during the current tour to Sri Lanka.

Houghton would be an ideal national coach for Bangladesh, because he is a gifted individual well accustomed to backs-to-the-wall life with Zimbabwe and now Derbyshire. In fact he did a remarkable job coaching my club Radlett in Hertfordshire for two years, especially in 2003 when they won the London 50-overs knockout competition - the Evening Standard Trophy -- as rank outsiders. Radlett's path to the Oval final included away victories at Teddington and Wimbledon, the champions respectively of Middlesex and Surrey. Houghton's knack as a coach to maximize the ability of every player could hardly be better illustrated.

Houghton captained Zimbabwe in their early days as a Test nation and later during his time as their coach he achieved a better record in the World Cup than England's.

After the World Cup finished in April all four Asian countries lost their coaches. Sri Lanka were first to make an appointment, hiring the Australian Trevor Bayliss. That leaves India, Pakistan and Bangladesh still looking.