18 Facts about Graham Gooch: The enigmatic gentleman

Graham Gooch. These are two simple words that quite effectively summarize dozens of decades of English cricket. Moreover, while the rich legacy of England cricket resonates names such as Douglas Jardine, Fred Truman, and Ted Dexter, here was a player who exuded the originality of the brilliance that was thrust upon him. On his birthday, we take a quick look at some facts about Graham Gooch, the grand old man of English cricket.

1. Whipps Cross’ prodigal son:

Graham Alan Gooch was born on the 23^rd of July 1953 at Whipps Cross, Leytonstone, Essex.

2. ‘Zappie’ the batsman:

Gooch’s nicknames include Zap and Goochie.f

3. The handlebar to fame:

Although Graham Gooch was known for his run-scoring abilities as well as astounding batting technique, Graham Gooch has always been remembered for his trademark mustache. Although it wasn’t a handlebar and the fact that he no longer sports the mustache anymore, Gooch’s piece of faceware was certainly era-appropriate.

4. The massive piece of willow:

Graham Gooch has a reputation of using perhaps one of the heaviest bats in the game.

5. The horse among the ponies:

Gooch’s incredible talent was witnessed by one and all from a very early age. He made his debut for England at the tender age of 21 against Australia in the Ashes series of 1975 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

6. The ultimate professional:

Gooch’s professionalism and work-ethic became a part of who he was and the way he molded himself as a player and an individual. It was this discipline that accounted for the relatively long and successful career Gooch enjoyed.

7. The Headingley special:

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.

8. The home of cricket:

Wimbledon and SW 19 is the home of tennis icon Roger Federer. Similarly, the keys to the Lords cricket ground, in a virtual sense belongs to Graham Gooch. His career-best score of 333 – added to his second innings century – remains the highest match aggregate at Lord’s. He is the first to make 20 Test appearances at Lord’s.

9. The soul that never grew old:

Gooch is regarded as one of the rare cricketing souls who perhaps never grew old. He played cricket for England for the better part of 22 years before inadvertently announcing his retirement in 1997 at the ripe old age of 42. In spite of this, he continued to hold various positions within the ECB management including batting coach and chief selector.

10. Coaching career:

He returned to coaching as Essex batting coach, working closely with Alastair Cook. His success earned him a consultancy role for England before he was made full-time batting coach for the national side in February 2012.

11. A fanatic for work ethic:

Matthew Engel, a journalist who followed Gooch’s career has been quoted as saying: “his fanatical fitness and work-ethic gave the team more purpose than it had shown in a decade.”

12. A pair on debut:

In what has been seen as a weird similarity between many successful cricketers, Gooch scored a pair on his Test debut against Australia. England would go on to lose the encounter by an innings and 85 runs.

13. Branded a Rebel:

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 Woolmer, being banned from Test cricket for three years. Gooch captained the team on the tour.

14. A leader, not a skipper:

Gooch has a reputation of leading by example. His batting average as captain was almost twice his average in the ranks. New Zealand was beaten in the winter tour of 1991–92, the decisive Second Test including another Gooch century (which he described as his worst ever, but his luckiest). He also led England to the World Cup final later that winter and batted well during the 1992 series defeat by Pakistan – again, his runs contributing to England’s series-levelling victory in the 4th test.

15. Jack Hobbs and the run machine:

After he retired in 1997, the statistician Robert Brooke calculated that he had scored 22,211 runs in List ‘A’ cricket which, added to his 44,846 first-class runs, put him ahead of Jack Hobbs. He is one of only twenty-five players to have scored 100 first-class centuries.

16. Gaming and hair:

Two licensed computer games were made by Audiogenic, Graham Gooch’s Test Cricket in 1985 and Graham Gooch World Class Cricket in 1993. Gooch has also been advertising for hair transplants since the mid-1990’s.

17. The rivet hammers in the castle:

Graham Gooch is an avid follower of the Barclays Premier League and is a supporter of West Ham United.

18. Back in the summer of 87’:

The 1987 Reliance World Cup in India was perhaps one of the most characteristic performances in Gooch’s career. His performance against India in the semifinal at Bombay saw him become regarded as perhaps one of the best captains there ever was.