Silk and Steel
David Gower, a distinguished member of that almost-golden generation of English cricket which provided us with some of the most newsworthy and whiskers-championing players in a long time, writes in fond tribute to Sir Ian.In style and temperament, the easygoing Gower was the rambunctious Botham's polar opposite, except perhaps in cocking a snook at the establishment. They also remain among the top choices for voices you'd like to hear in commentary during a Test match: perhaps we should have an English ex-player commentary-coach for those who haunt us from the heights of the box in India.
2 comments:
R, I wouldnt quite agree with that entire generation being called almost-golden - Gower and Botham were the ones who made a fairly nondescript team golden-ish. Others like Gatting, Gooch et al were far too staid to even deserve being bracketed with these guys. Their bowlers were distinctly un-memorable too.
The way the staidness and stiff-upper-lip-ness of Gooch and co killed Gower after his airplane ride was just tragic. I wish someone had taken out a procession or something demanding his restitution!:-).
PS - My biggest regret is that my first nickname was Gooch, because in gully-cricket matches I used to hold the bat the way he did.:-(. 'Tis tragic, being far too young to understand sporting-politics.
> My biggest regret is that my first nickname was Gooch
Detective Goochwala! - I wish I knew this when you were here :-)
Point taken. I had intended the "almost-golden generation" tag in honour of their many achievements: 3 World Cup finals, Ashes won and reclaimed, consistently among the top 3 of the time, perhaps easily the 2nd best to the Windies given the Aussie regrouping. But "almost" because of never quite making it in the ODI scene.
Skill-wise, you would take Gooch, Gatting, and Willis despite being flair-less - sort of like watching the Italian/German footballers of the 90s.
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