Graham Gooch had to work hard to forge a top-level career, but after a brilliant summer, he was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1980.
From hesitant beginnings in Test cricket, Graham Gooch went on to become one of England’s most prolific batsmen, scoring 8,900 runs at 49.23 in 118 matches. In all cricket, he scored a world record 67,057 runs.
It is as much a tribute to his temperament as to his undoubted skills with the bat that Graham Alan Gooch has blossomed into one of the most exciting stroke-players in the game today – a point he so ably demonstrated to a packed Lord’s ground and millions of television viewers last summer when his magnificent 120 helped Essex carry off the Benson and Hedges Cup against Surrey. That was just one of several fine innings which Gooch, born at Leytonstone on July 23, 1953, unleashed to confirm his arrival as a batsman of the highest class.
It is fair to say that since making his county debut in 1973, Gooch has had to endure immense pressures on his way to the top; pressure that would have got the better of players not gifted with his fierce determination to succeed. At a time when fans and media alike were demanding new blood at Test level, Gooch, following an impressive start to the season and with only a handful of first-class games behind him, was – so to speak – thrown to the lions in 1975. He was selected for his Test debut against an Australian side containing the fearsome new-ball attack of Lillee and Thomson. There was to be no fairytale baptism on the international scene. Far from it. Gooch collected a dreaded pair at Edgbaston and, after one more Test, was cast aside.
That must have been a traumatic experience, but it merely hardened his resolve to make a success of a career he had set his heart on since his early days. For the next three years, he went quietly about the business of serving his apprenticeship at county level before being called up as opener for the second Test against Pakistan at Lord’s in 1978. Failure to grasp that chance would have had one doubting his ability to make the grade at the highest level. His answer was a fighting half-century to help England overcome the shock of losing their first two wickets with only 19 runs on the board. Gooch thus proved he had learnt much in the intervening years. But shortly afterwards he was under pressure to retain his place again.
The turning point, he admits, came when he was entrusted with opening the innings in 1978. The extra responsibility served to inject extra discipline into his game – and confidence began to flow. Proof of that came quickly when, at the start of the season, he hit successive centuries off both Kent and Northamptonshire – innings which were to lead to his Test recall.
Somewhat ironically, his stature as a Test batsman has grown since dropping down to No.3 or four for England. But whatever role he is asked to fill at future county or international level, Gooch has the passion and promise to suggest we shall hear a lot more of his name in the years ahead. Those of us who appreciate exciting and entertaining cricket will be grateful for that.
