On the last occasion, Zimbabwe were beaten outright in the two Tests and failed to qualify for a place in the finals of the four-nation Singer World Series.
``When we played Sri Lanka here last time, it was the lowest we ever been. We understood and we changed a lot of things. We came here the last time without a proper coach or manager. Nobody knew what anybody's job was. Alastair (Campbell) was first time as captain. We had no help nor anything. That has changed in the last 12 months,'' said Houghton on arrival yesterday.
``Suddenly we got a confident team that wins. You will find a very different contest this time. I think the games against Sri Lanka might be slighlty even more contested because I think our spinners will be just as competitive, if not more competitive, than yours,'' he said.
``On the last tour we were trying to fight against your spinners,who bowled particularly well. We've come well equipped in the spin department, you could see us playing at some stage even four spinners in the team,'' said 40-year-old Houghton, a former Zimbabwe Test captain, who has now retired from the game to become the team coach.
Zimbabwe's spin department was given a tremendous boost by the introduction of leg-spinner Adam Huckle. In the last Test series played by Zimbabwe against New Zealand at home, 26-year-old Huckle took 16 wickets, adding a new dimension to the Zimbabwe bowling.
Huckle and fellow leg-spinner Paul Strang form the nucleus of the slow bowling department, along with Andy Whittall (off-spin) and Grant Flower, who occasionally bowls left-arm spin.
``I think we need to establish an identity to win Test matches. We are starting to find it in the spin department. We got good back up seamers. Heath Streak is still in the top seven or eight in the world and the three young coloured bowlers we brought have a lot of potential. But to win Test matches, I think the three spinners will be our identity over the next few years,'' said Houghton.
The Zimbabwe squad of 15 players (a 16th player, John Rennie will join them on January 17 for the one-day series), was picked for the twin tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand. After playing two Tests and three one-day internationals in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe travel to New Zealand for a further two Tests and five one-day internationals.
The only uncapped player in the side is 22-year-old right-hand batsman Murray Goodwin, who has more or less taken Houghton's place in the team. Goodwin has for the past three seasons been playing Sheffield Shield cricket in Western Australia.
The Zimbabwe team were met on arrival at the Bandaranaike Airport by Cricket Board official M.Rajasingham and liaison officer Hafiz Marikar. They will travel to Matara today where they will commence their tour with a three-day game against a Sri Lanka Board XI on Friday.
The Zimbabwe tour party to Sri Lanka:
Age Tests ODI's
Alastair Campbell (captain) 25 24 66
Andy Flower (vice-captain) 28 24 74
Grant Flower 27 24 64
Gavin Rennie 21 2 11
Murray Goodwin 22 0 0
Craig Wishart 23 6 16
Guy Whittall 25 24 54
Heath Streak 23 17 44
Paul Strang 27 11 47
Andy Whittall 24 3 16
Adam Huckle 26 2 5
Bryan Strang 25 11 18
Mpumelo Mbangwa 21 1 3
Everton Matambanadzo 21 2 7
Henry Olonga 21 7 3
John Rennie 27 4 24
Manager - Malcolm Jarvis
Coach - Dave Houghton
Physio - Amato Machikecho