Graham gooch autobiography of a face
•
'My autobiography won't be boring, because I'm not boring'
Mullally against New Zealand at Lord's in © PA Photos
Why did inom leave Australia to play cricket in England, in ? Simple. Because I'm English.
I became good mates with Brian Lara because inom was the first individ to hit him on the head - in an beneath Test Match, playing for Australia.
In Australia, Test cricket has always komma before first-class cricket, but when inom first came over, in England, it was all about county cricket and the England team second.
I didn't take myself seriously with the bat. Of course I was shit. But I loved it. inom hooked Wasim Akram for a six once.
The plan was always to play for England. Some politics kept me out of the side for a while.
I made my first-class debut for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield final. inom wasn't even in the state squad, but Bruce Reid and Peter Capes got injured and the back-up bowlers weren't thought to be good enough to play against Que
•
Graham Gooch
Graham Gooch was the most prolific run-scorer top-class cricket has ever seen. After he retired in , the statistician Robert Brooke calculated that he had scored 22, runs in List A cricket which, added to his 44, first-class runs, put him ahead of Jack Hobbs.
When England first plucked him out of Essex as a year-old in , 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 wanted to, but he chose to become a more rounded player and, perhaps, the ultimate professional. He started his Test career, against Australia in , with a pair, which meant he could only get better.
Even so, it took him five years and 22 Tests to get his first hundred - against Holding and Co at Lord's. He was the leading run-scorer on the tour of West Indies about six months later, but then got himself banned for three years for leading the first rebel tour to South Africa, a decision he never adequately explained. When
•
Graham Gooch recalls his experience of This Is Your Life in his autobiography
For the /91 tour to Australia, we were due to fly from Heathrow on a Thursday in the middle of October, but we were told to assemble at the Excelsior Hotel near the airport early the evening before. I took a bit of hump at that, losing my last evening with the kids at home because Micky Stewart and Ted Dexter wanted an inaugural team meeting to get the tour off on the right foot. So I hugged and kissed the kids and my Dad drove me down to the hotel. At once I saw Allan Lamb in the bar and, as he was never the promptest of people, I was pleased that my vice-captain was out to show me up for punctuality. Dad stayed for one drink, then we went along the corridor into one of the hotel meeting-rooms and before I could wonder why everyone in the team was looking so dolled-up and smart in their ties and blazers, Michael Aspel jumped out and said, 'Graham Gooch - This is Your Life!'
So that was why Brenda a