GRAHAM ALAN GOOCH (ENGLAND)

Introduction:

Graham Alan Gooch (born 23 July 1953) is a former England  cricketer, who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time, with 67,057 runs across first class and limited overs games. His List A cricket tally of 22,211 runs is also a record. He is one of only twenty five players to have scored over 100 first class centuries. Internationally, despite being banned for three years following a rebel tour to ostracized South Africa, Graham Gooch is the second highest Test run scorer for England. His playing years spanned much of the period of domination by the West Indies, against whom his mid forties batting average is regarded as extremely creditable. His score of 154 against them at Headingley in 1991 is regarded as one of the greatest centuries of all time by many critics and former players. His career best score of 333 added to his second innings century remains the highest match aggregate at Lord's. As captain, Matthew Engel. After 118 Tests, aged forty two, he retired into coaching and as team selector, before becoming a commentator. In 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He returned to coach Essex, in 2012.

Career:

Graham Gooch made his debut in Test cricket in 1975 at 21 against the touring Australia side captained by Ian Chappell. His debut was not a great success as Graham Gooch got a pair, and England lost the first Test by an innings and 85 runs. The second Ashes Test in the series was not much better, he scored 6 and 31 and was then dropped from the side. He was not selected again until 1978 where his scoring rate for Essex meant that he could not be ignored and he became a mainstay in the England line up. In 1980 he was awarded the Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Graham Gooch had a further hiatus in his career when he went on the controversial 1982 South African rebel tour, which resulted in all of the players concerned, including Geoff Boycott, Alan Knott and Bob Wool mer, being banned from Test cricket for three years. Geoffrey Boycott was generally perceived as the key player organising the tour party but it was Graham Gooch who captained the team who gained the most media attention and in some cases vilification. Graham Gooch was not handed the captaincy until the team arrived in South Africa at the beginning of March. It could be argued that more attention was on Graham Gooch however as he was reaching his peak as a Test Player, others were in the twilight years of their cricket careers and so the ban was arguably felt more acutely by the captain. Graham Gooch claimed in the film "Out of the Wilderness" that 'others' decided he "had no place in England cricket", hence his decision to join the tour. Graham Gooch was restored to the England team in 1985. Opting to miss the 1986-87 tour of Australia for personal reasons a severe loss of form resulted in failing to win back his England place for the 1987 summer and Test series against Pakistan indeed at one stage he was even dropped to the Second XI at Essex but his form returned at the end of the summer with a superb century in the MCC Bicentennial match. He returned to the England team for the Cricket World Cup in India and Pakistan, and the subsequent winter tour of Pakistan. His career blossomed later after being appointed captain, a position he held twice firstly and briefly, at the end of the "summer of four captains" in 1988, as a replacement for the injured Chris Cowdrey who never played another Test. In his first match ''last of the series against the West Indies'', England at least showed some spirit, taking a first innings lead for the only time in the series but Graham Gooch's second innings 84 stood alone as the rest of the batting collapsed, England losing the match series 4-0. His second match, the one off Test against Sri Lanka, was won, and all seemed fair for Graham Gooch to remain as captain for the tour of India that winter. But that tour was cancelled over the Indian government's refusal to grant visas to the eight players who had sporting links with South Africa, including Gooch himself. Gower was thus returned as captain for the losing 1989 Ashes series in which, for a second time, Graham Gooch's loss of form with the bat resulted in his being dropped, by his own request this time. After Gower's
resignation following the 4-0 Ashes defeat of 1989, and the loss of a large number of players with Test experience to a second rebel tour of South Africa under Gatting, Graham Gooch was re-appointed captain for the 1989-90 winter tour of the West Indies. England unexpectedly won the first Test, which was England's first victory over the Windies since 1973 and came close to winning the 3rd However, Graham Gooch suffered a broken hand and missed the rest of the tour England lost the two remaining matches and the series. Returning for the summer of 1990, Graham Gooch had a golden summer both as batsman and captain against India and New Zealand, scoring runs seemingly at will. Graham Gooch scored a record 456 runs in the Lord's Test against India in 1990, 333 in the first innings and 123 in the second. Kumar Sangakara of Sri Lanka is the only other player to score a triple century in the first innings and a century in the second innings. His aggregate of 456 for the match remains a world record for a Test match, as does his aggregate of 753 for the 3 match series. Both series were won, and in 1990 Graham Gooch was awarded Professional Cricketers' Association Player of the Year. The winter tour of Australia did not, however go according to plan, England losing 3-0 despite holding first innings leads in the first two tests ''both of which were lost'', although Graham Gooch scored a marvellous hundred chasing an improbable total in the drawn 4th test. Graham Gooch had a public falling out with David Gower, the England batsman, particularly after Gower hired a vintage aircraft and ''buzzed'' the ground where England was playing during the unsuccessful tour of Australia in 1990-91. Graham Gooch contributed to the decision to omit Gower from England's tour of India in 1993, which proved so controversial that an extraordinary vote of no confidence in the selectors was passed at the MCC. Gower never played another Test lending an ironic edge to Graham Gooch's surpassing him as England's leading run scorer in the 1993 Ashes series. It is this relationship between the two men that perhaps highlights best the differences between their approaches to the game, as Gower himself identified in 1995 in an interview in The Independent "I was never destined to be on the ball 100 per cent of the time. I don't have the same ability that Graham Gooch has to produce something very close to his best every time he plays. After the fourth Test match of the 1993 Ashes series, and with England now 3-0 down in the series, he resigned as captain the job being given to his fellow opening batsman, Mike Atherton. He continued playing for England for a couple of years notably scoring another double century against New Zealand in 1994, and retired from test cricket as England's all time highest run scorer. Over his 118 Test career, Graham Gooch played with a record 113 different team mates.

Coaching:

Graham Gooch returned to his beloved Essex in the capacity of head coach, In October 2001, taking over from Keith Fletcher. Graham Gooch held this role until stepping down in March 2005 to Paul Prichard, his long running opening partner. Graham Gooch remains at the club, continuing as the squad's specialist batting coach whilst also assuming commercial duties for the county. In November 2009 Graham Gooch was selected as a "temporary" batting coach for the impending four test tour of South Africa and to support ex-Essex colleague, Head England Coach Andy Flower. Graham Gooch's commitment to England cricket and passion for the game remains. When commenting on the new England coaching role he said, "It came out of the blue. I met Andy at Trent Bridge when I was working for radio and I was a bit surprised when he asked me to do it. But you spend your career trying to do your bit for England and when you're asked to help again the call of your country is special. He has since remained as England's batting coach on a permanent basis, continuing this role for the 2010 series against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the winter Ashes series against Australia in Australia. Double centurion Alastair Cook ''at the first test at The Gabba in Brisbane'' hailed Graham Gooch's influence on England's and his own batting prowess. Graham Gooch subsequently has supervised England's batting, throughout their rise to number 1 in the Test cricket ICC Rankings. Prior to Graham Gooch taking over, English batsmen had scored 6 test double centuries in 15 years. 15 months after he became the batting coach, England had already beaten that total. Graham Gooch took the full time role as England Batting coach, In March 2012. Which came in the wake of the disappointing three match Test series against Pakistan, in which England were beaten 3-0, largely down to the failure of their batsmen.

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