Cricket: Gough Still Holds His Dazzling Dreams

It is hard to believe that after all these years we are all still sat at Darren Gough's knee, the dodgy one that nearly ended his career, listening to him dispensing wisdom on English cricket.

Few would have credited that, way past his 34th birthday, he would still be the most boisterous member of England's one-day squad, proffering advice on anything from how to smoke large cigars to basic truths about life as an international cricketer.

Yesterday he packed into 15 minutes or so an impassioned defence of England's captain Michael Vaughan and some defiant words on behalf of Steve Harmison and James Anderson, two fast bowlers who would one day replace him in the one-day team, rammed home the opinion that his new mate Kevin Pietersen is "a top bloke" and boldly refused to rule out surviving until the 2007 World Cup, when he will be 36.

This newspaper has caused some contumely. Gough, it is fair to say, is somewhat obsessed by the fact that Mike Selvey, the Guardian's cricket correspondent, has repeatedly urged him to call time on a successful career on the grounds that the 2007 World Cup is an impossible dream and that his continued presence prevents others from gaining experience.

This opinion has caused several small, controlled explosions around South Africa. The most celebrated came on Sky TV on Sunday after he had taken two for 27 at The Wanderers in the opening one-day international. Congratulated on a display that Vaughan, for one, thought worthy of the man-of-the-match award, Gough spluttered something like (and this may be slightly embellished): "Aye, but it were harder in t'second spell - it were coming out like Mike Selvey."

Everybody deserves to be centrally cast in at least one Gough anecdote and Selvey accepted the honour graciously, reasoning that, if it were indeed coming out that badly, then Gough really should retire.

Gough's career has become an ever-lengthening anecdote. His unconcealed joy at a verbal joust will give him the energy to survive the physical jousts of the next week. "I've been dead meat for two years," he retorted yesterday, as he studied the films on show at a shopping mall multi-screen.

Everybody on this tour knows that he has just done 12 on the beep test, that his knee is so strong that he is running on treadmills again for the first time in three years and that Australia's wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist said that he was "hitting the gloves" in the tsunami appeal match in Melbourne. He will play the celebrity until the end of time. He is like a colourful little hot-air balloon, all fired up and ready to burst into the skies.

Those opinions in more detail: Vaughan has been depicted as "rude and dismissive" by the ICC match referee Clive Lloyd, as well as aggravating the South Africans. "He's not like that," said Gough. "I have known him since he was 15. I have seen him grow up. I know him inside out and I wouldn't say he was rude. His facial expressions can sometimes be misleading but he is a very polite lad. We all know that. He maintains as captain that the biggest thing is for people to enjoy themselves."

Harmison he insists remains a "quality bowler, just short of confidence". As for Anderson, whose next game might be a pre-season friendly for Lancashire: "If he comes through this, he will be a lot stronger for it. I have never seen a bowler anywhere in the world who can bowl deliveries like Jimmy Anderson; it looks as if they are going down the leg-side and then they swing back to hit off-stump. I'm sure that will come back when he goes back to Lancashire and plays some cricket. We all know that's what he needs."

And himself? It is now 216 ODI wickets and rising. "I know that once you're over 30 people want you out but I must be doing something right because the selectors, captain and coach all want me in the team."