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Full name Graham Alan Gooch
Born July 23, 1953, Whipps Cross, Leytonstone, Essex
Current age 55 years 81 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 scorecard
Last Test
Australia v England at Perth, Feb 3-7, 1995 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
England v West Indies at Scarborough, Aug 26, 1976 scorecard
Last ODI
Australia v England at Melbourne, Jan 10, 1995 scorecard
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.
Matthew Engel October 2004
