Mike Gatting

England|Top order Batter
Mike Gatting
INTL CAREER: 1977 - 1995
Browse other players
Australia
All

Alphabetically sorted top ten of players who have played the most matches across formats in the last 12 months

Full Name

Michael William Gatting

Born

June 06, 1957, Kingsbury, Middlesex

Age

66y 287d

Also Known As

Gatt

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Medium

Playing Role

Top order Batter

RELATIONS

(nephew),

(brother),

(son),

(son),

(nephew)

Other

Coach, Commentator

For two decades, it was a sight as characteristic of Lord's as Father Time himself: Mike Gatting, with jutting beard and strutting gait, biffing the ball past extra cover for Middlesex or England. If a spinner was bowling, he probably wouldn't be on long: "Gatt" murdered spinners. Squat and tubby, he never looked a sportsmen from a distance, though at close quarters his oak-tree forearms gave a clue. He was a natural, a point recognised by the selectors when they sent him on tour as a 20-year-old, in 1977-78. But it would take seven more years, and 54 Test innings, before he made a hundred. In the meantime, he batted every position except first violin. Finally, he reached maturity with 136 in adversity at Bombay, an innings of such guts that the British press broke its rule and applauded. Then there was no stopping him.

His captaincy - the job came a year later - had a bristling quality, like his batting. But the triumph of the surprise Ashes win in 1986-87 was followed later that year by his argument with the Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana - routine in most sports, shocking in cricket - which reverberated round the world. Gatting's bristling had got the better of him. It took six months for Gatting to be sacked, and then it was ostensibly (and ludicrously) because of an alleged sexual encounter with a barmaid. The selectors wanted him back in 1989 but their choice was vetoed; Gatting, in pique and sadness, took a rebel team to South Africa instead and the captaincy never came back to him. He had a sense of fair play and not much subtlety; he suffered for being a straightforward man in a game run by dissemblers.
Matthew Engel

Mike Gatting Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests7913814440920735.55976445.15102155211590
ODIs9288172095115*29.50296870.581916511220
FC5518611233654925849.52--94181--4930
List A5515087914476143*33.74--1287--1770

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests793275231741/141/1479.252.52188.0000
ODIs9214392336103/323/3233.605.1439.2000
FC551-1006147031585/34-29.762.8063.6-20
List A551-623448171756/266/2627.524.6335.6410
Michael William Gatting

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
ODI

Debut/Last Matches of Mike Gatting

Recent Matches of Mike Gatting

Photos of Mike Gatting

Vijay Patil, Sachin Tendulkar and Mike Gatting at the Tendulkar Middlesex Global Academy
Tim May, Sourav Ganguly, Vince van der Bijl, Shakib Al Hasan (standing), Shane Warne, Mike Gatting and Kumar Sangakkara (sitting) at the MCC World Committee meeting
Allan Lamb takes evasive action as Kapil Dev cuts
Mike Gatting guards Ashes urn in all-night Lord's vigil
Mike Gatting and Andrew Strauss arrive at Tom Maynard's funeral
Mike Gatting offers tea to spectators