Farewell Darren Gough The Entertainer

After another wretched summer, at least the autumn weather didn’t ruin the conclusion of cricket’s premier competition and congratulations are extended to Durham on lifting their maiden championship.

County stalwarts Graeme Hick and Mushtaq Ahmed are among early retirees alongside Yorkshire and England’s Darren Dough who has played his final championship match for his county.

I mention England for Gough was as much a part of the England line up as he was Yorkshire; I say final championship match for this most alluring of entertainers has left the door ajar for possible twenty overs games.

Gough marked the footsteps of former Yorkshire greats who epitomised tough, professional and no-nonsense cricket. If Headingley still evokes the memories of Hutton, Trueman, Illingworth and Boycott, the name Gough can justifiably be counted amongst them.

Gough enjoyed his cricket and played out the most intense duels with a smile and an acknowledgment that there were probably more important things in life. But he was more than the mere brawn expected from fast bowlers. Marcus Trescothick wrote in his recent auto-biography that “Goughy was the most instinctively clever bowler I ever played with. He could switch and change to suit the conditions. He seemed to have a plan and a ball for every batsman he came up against”.

A master of his craft, Gough perfected late away movement, the inswinging yorker and became the first English bowler to exploit reverse-swing. Such variety made him England’s greatest one-day bowler, particularly at the death-throes of an innings.

In a career in which injury was too often a companion Gough became England’s all-time highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals with 234, and with 229 wickets in 58 Test matches, was the team’s ninth most successful wicket-taker.

He is the type of player that central contracts were designed for and one can only wonder of his impact if they had been introduced at the start rather the end of his England career.

An average of 28.39 has to be considered alongside the fact that 33 of his 58 Tests were against the two strongest teams of the age, Australia and South Africa. Against the rest he managed 112 wickets at 22.91.

Yet you always felt that it was against the strongest that the best was brought out of Gough. When the chips were down the captain would turn to his star bowler, for from adversity would the antagonist accept the challenge, none more so than when playing the Australians. It was fitting that his last wicket was retired-Aussie and now Somerset captain Darren Langer.

England’s current fast-bowling triumvirate of Harmison, Anderson and Broad are reserved personalities and the team looks to the likes of captain Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff to provide the sense of self-belief that Gough carried in buckets.

Like Flintoff, Gough had the ability to make things happen and could inspire team-mates and crowds with a feat in the field or some daring hitting alongside his bowling.  Michael Atherton who skippered him wrote: “Chest puffed out and striding back to his mark, sneaking a peek at the speedometer as he went, he was a captain’s dream.”

He was also a recognisable personality and with cricket becoming an exclusive pay-for-TV sport, Gough helped provide exposure. I’m sure that viewers of Saturday’s ‘light-entertainment’ will be seeing more of this infectious artiste, but let’s hope that he is remembered mostly for the trade that gave him his superstar status.