Graham Gooch

England|Top order Batter
Graham Gooch
INTL CAREER: 1975 - 1995
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Full Name

Graham Alan Gooch

Born

July 23, 1953, Whipps Cross, Leytonstone, Essex

Age

70y 240d

Nicknames

Zap, Goochie

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Medium

Playing Role

Top order Batter

Height

6ft

Education

Norlington Junior High School, Leytonstone

RELATIONS

(cousin)

Other

Coach, Commentator

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 22,211 runs in List A cricket which, added to his 44,846 first-class runs, put him ahead of Jack Hobbs.

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 wanted to, but he chose to become a more rounded player and, perhaps, the ultimate professional. He started his Test career, against Australia in 1975, 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 - 123 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 he returned, he often refused to tour and threatened to come home when he did. 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 batter. Between June 1990 and February 1991, he made 12 scores of over 50 in eight Tests, which included his 333 and 123 against India at Lord's. In the 1991 summer, he made what many considered to be his finest innings, batting over seven and a half hours at Headingley to carry his bat for 154 in a team total of 252 against a West Indies attack made up of Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Patrick Patterson and Courtney Walsh.

Two years later he became England's leading run-scorer and held the record for over two decades before Alastair Cook overtook him in 2015.

After retirement, Gooch's career took a surprise turn: he had been earmarked as English cricket's supremo, but 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. He returned to coaching as Essex batting coach, working closely with Cook. In 2012, he was appointed England's batting coach, a job he held till the Ashes defeat in 2013-14.

Graham Gooch Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests1182156890033342.581807549.2320461079251030
ODIs1251226429014236.98693261.88823-15450
FC581990754484633349.01--128217--5550
List A6136014822211198*40.16--44139--2610

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests1186626551069233/395/6946.472.41115.4000
ODIs1256020661516363/193/1942.114.4057.3000
FC581-1878584572467/14-34.372.7076.3-30
List A613-1430896573105/85/831.154.0446.1110
Graham Alan Gooch

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Test
ODI

Debut/Last Matches of Graham Gooch

Recent Matches of Graham Gooch

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
Eng Masters vs Aus Masters02/501-Jul-2001NottinghamOTHEROD
M.C.C. vs NZ A0 & 5--18-Jul-2000OxfordFC
Essex vs Surrey28--08-Jun-1997The OvalList A
Essex vs Surrey0--27-May-1997ChelmsfordList A
Essex vs Somerset14*--05-May-1997ChelmsfordList A

Photos of Graham Gooch

Lord Patel of Bradford speaks with Graham Gooch at an event at Leyton Cricket Club
Graham Gooch speaks to the media
Graeme Swann receives batting tips from Graham Gooch in the nets
Graham Gooch chats with Alastair Cook in the nets
Graham Gooch chats with Alastair Cook in the nets
Alastair Cook faces throwdowns from Graham Gooch