Ben Gardner recounts the first statement of David Gower in Test cricket – a fully controlled pull for a boundary, which spoke of the man’s imperious class and self-belief.

The first ball Gower faces is a gentle, short delivery from Liaqat Ali, which he seizes upon and pulls imperiously through the leg-side for four. Eleven runs later he mistimes a drive but is dropped at mid-on, a second gift from Liaqat. Gower is eventually dismissed for 58, an early marker in a Test career that will see him rack up 8,231 runs, passing Geoffrey Boycott’s then-record run-tally for England.

I must confess to having been born two years after Gower’s last Test but, thanks to photos like this one, I feel like I know what it must have been like to watch him live, to experience the thrill, the anticipation, and the unpredictability.

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It is the moment immediately after that first delivery which is captured in this photo, and it contains so much of what characterised Gower as a batsman: the lack of tension in the forearms, which show how the ball was timed and not bludgeoned, and the balance on just one set of toes, like a pirouetting ballerina, which leaves you wondering if a photo taken a second later would have him staring straight down the camera.

But along with the style, there is a risk in the shot that came to define Gower. It was far from a conscious attempt to dominate, with Gower later saying: “I hooked the first ball for four and thought ‘Heavens, what have I done? It could have gone anywhere. Suppose I had been caught?’”

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It was that impulsiveness that made Gower so fascinating, as if he couldn’t resist trying to leave a beautiful gift to the game whenever the opportunity was there, and even sometimes when it was not. There were of course times when it didn’t work – had Liaqat not dropped him on 11 this innings would have been remembered very differently – but it was more than compensated for by those many occasions, like that very first ball, when it worked to glorious effect.

First published in October 2016