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England

Player profile

Full name Graham Alan Gooch
Born July 23, 1953, Whipps Cross, Leytonstone, Essex
Current age 55 years 273 days
Major teams England, Essex, Western Province
Nickname Zap, Goochie
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Other Coach, Commentator
Height 6 ft 0 in
Education Norlington Junior High School, Leytonstone

Batting and fielding averages Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests 118 215 6 8900 333 42.58 18075 49.23 20 46 1079 25 103 0
ODIs 125 122 6 4290 142 36.98 6932 61.88 8 23 15 45 0
First-class 581 990 75 44846 333 49.01 128 217 555 0
List A 614 601 48 22211 198* 40.16 44 139 261 0

Bowling averages Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 118 66 2655 1069 23 3/39 5/69 46.47 2.41 115.4 0 0 0
ODIs 125 60 2066 1516 36 3/19 3/19 42.11 4.40 57.3 0 0 0
First-class 581 18785 8457 246 7/14 34.37 2.70 76.3 3 0
List A 614 14308 9657 310 5/8 5/8 31.15 4.04 46.1 1 1 0

Career statistics Test debut England v Australia at Birmingham, Jul 10-14, 1975
Last Test Australia v England at Perth, Feb 3-7, 1995
Test statistics
ODI debut England v West Indies at Scarborough, Aug 26, 1976
Last ODI Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 10, 1995
ODI statistics
First-class span 1973 - 2000
List A span 1973 - 1997

Profile

Graham Gooch was the most prolific run scorer top-class cricket has ever seen. After he retired in 1997, the statistician Robert Brooke calculated that he had scored 21,087 in one-day cricket at first-class level, which added to his 44,841 first-class runs, put him ahead of Jack Hobbs. It was an amazing achievement, especially for a man who gave the impression that he was constantly on the brink of walking out in disgust. His enigmatic qualities seemed almost cultivated. When England first plucked him out of Essex, as a 21-year-old in 1975, Gooch was an uninhibited belter of a cricket ball. Armed with one of the game's heaviest bats, he could always wallop it when he chose, but the inhibitions grew. In his case, they made him a more rounded player and perhaps the ultimate professional. In the 1980s Gooch was often where the action wasn't: he was banned for three years for leading the first rebel tour to South Africa, a decision he never adequately explained, perhaps even to himself. Even when unbanned, he was often refusing to tour and threatening to come home. England made him captain only because there was no one else, but his fanatical fitness and work-ethic gave the team more purpose than it had shown in a decade. Approaching 40, he kept getting better as a batsman and ever more mysterious: his marriage was believed to be cricket's happiest until he walked out on it. Even after retirement, his career took a surprise turn: earmarked as English cricket's supremo, he was bombed out as coach and selector and became a broadcaster, with a sly wit that surprised those who had seen only his poker face and his broad bat.

Notes

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1980

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