Cricket: Time Leads Sad Gough a Merry Dance

Is it not sad that Darren Gough failed to pre-empt the axe and retire from all international cricket before the real slide began? The news yesterday that he was not included in the one-day squad for India was scarcely a shock, more like a rubberstamping of a general view. He has not yet given up the ghost, he says, and if bird flu strikes the entire England pace attack prior to next year’s World Cup it is just conceivable that he will make it to the Caribbean. But do not put the mortgage on it.

There is a view that Gough’s request not to be considered for the Pakistan tour and his subsequent successful venture into ballroom dancing instead is at the root of his omission now: pique by management which does not enjoy being given the run-around. Certainly there was dissatisfaction expressed at what was regarded as Gough being less than open. He had said he wanted to spend some time with his children (and it was rumored an attempt at reconciliation with his wife) and it would be a hard heart that did not listen to such a plea. No mention was made of Strictly Come Dancing, however, and if it is true that Colin Jackson was approached as early as last May, it seems implausible that Gough did not know of possible participation in September.

In truth, though, it had been time for a clean break a while since. Perhaps it should have been after the last tour of the West Indies, where came the first evidence of his lack of impact with the new ball and, despite his many wiles, his increasing difficulty in keeping control at the end of the innings, which was once his specialty. That he played against Australia last summer was, in terms of the side’s development, an error of judgment. His belief that he could hang on for one more tilt at the World Cup was frankly unrealistic and the selectors ought to have recognized it as such, thanked him warmly for his contribution to English cricket (has he got a gong, by the way? If not, why not?) and moved on.

The player himself, of course, would rail against this. He has not taken kindly to suggestions that he was losing his powers and that perhaps he should have moved over to make room for the next generation. It would have been surprising, though, had he gone meekly. That is not the nature of the beast. The tantalizing, if foolhardy, belief that he could defy the years was actually the motivation he needed to spend the countless hours in the gym, plus the trips to specialists at home and abroad, in order to rehabilitate the chronic knee condition that would have finished less resilient and competitive souls. That he is still playing at all, and expects to do so for Essex for another two years at least, is a tribute to his tenacity.

Ever good for the soundbite, he expressed his disappointment with fierce eloquence yesterday. "I’m not a 20-year-old who’s out there demanding a place," he said. "I’m mature and I can understand they want to go with the young guys. Of course I am disappointed, because I still think I am one of the best bowlers at the end of a one-day match. You can’t buy one of them at a local superstore - it takes years and years."

But that, of course, if he cared to admit it, is the whole point, the reason why for more than a year it has been time to move on. A World Cup is every four years and after England’s poor showing last time, and a subsequent lack of progress generally in that form of the game, the need was there to plan for the future. Some elements can be learned faster than others but there is no easy way of getting the sort of experience to bowl the final overs of an important limited-overs match. It does, as Gough admits, take years and years. By still being there he was hindering rather than helping the process.

One hopes, though, that he is not lost to England’s cause. That knowledge is there to be passed on. Techniques in limited-overs cricket have moved on so rapidly and no England bowler has responded better than Gough to the demands. His is a deep well of information to be tapped and it would be foolish if the England management failed to acknowledge that fact.

For now we should be grateful for what he has brought to England over his Test and one-day career. Over a decade he has been the fulcrum of almost every side in which he has played, the totem, the one who snatches the ball when all else is failing. If he was never quite a genuinely great bowler, neither did he fall far short.

Dazzer’s dazzling feats Tests ODIs

Matches 58 157

Innings 86 85

Runs 855 590

Highest score 65 46no

Batting average 12.57 12.55

Wickets 229 235

Best bowling 6-42 5-44

Bowling average 28.39 26.11

Five-wicket inns 9 2