GATTING_ARTICLE_21SEP93

Gatting finds few reasons for regret through years of tumult Former England captain still saddened by 'worst mistake of my life' - the row with umpire Shakoor Rana in Pakistan - but tough Middlesex school has given him durable qualities By Michael Parkinson When he came in the restaurant he looked trim, fit and cleareyed; like a contender. In fact, he had just been told that he wasn't in the tour party to the West Indies (which he expected), nor had he been chosen to lead the A team to South Africa (which he thought he might). So, Mike Gatting, what are your comments please? He shrugged his shoulders: "The door is shut on my Test career. I suppose that's what it means," he said. Disappointed? "Of course. I love playing for England. Goochie had some of his best years for England after he started going grey. Why shouldn't me and Gower do the same? "On the other hand, it will be good to have a winter in England. I don't think the family will mind me being home for Christmas. I've had 15 years, good years at that, with England. So I can't complain," he said. What will he do? "Don't know. Look around. I used to be a plumber you know. Might take that up again." You used to be what? "Well, a plumber's mate really. When I was at school I used to work with this plumber. Learned a lot about it. It's all about organisation really. Might set myself up doing central heating systems and the like." He likes organising things, Mike Gatting. He thinks captaincy is about organising players into the right place at the right time and in the right frame of mind. "It will be a trying time for Mike Atherton in the West Indies. First of all, the quicks will be after him. The way they operate is seek and destroy the captain and demolish the side's confidence. He had better get used to the fact that he is not going to get many pitched in his own half. "Then he has to convince the team that they are on tour playing cricket and not on holiday. That's a problem with every touring party, but it's a particular problem in the Windies where it seems like carnival time wherever you go. Sometimes it's difficult to organise net practice and very easy for players to drift off and not concentrate on the job in hand. "I think they have been very brave picking a young side. I do think it might have been wiser to have taken at least one experienced player but there is no doubt that playing the West Indian pace bowlers is a job for quick eyes and lightning reflexes. If I was to offer any advice to Mike it would be to talk to his team, get them to think about the way they do things. It seems self-evident to say that different players need a different approach, but not every captain understands that. "When I had Ian Botham in the team and we won the Ashes in Australia, he made a significant contribution because I think I handled him the right way. I didn't insist that he have nets every day or do all the physical training. I'm glad they've picked Chris Lewis. He bowled well in India without much luck. Had an unhappy series against Australia and got dropped. He needs talking to. . . understanding, then see him go." Michael Gatting learned in a tough school. The Middlesex record through the 1980s and 1990s is an excellent one with only the odd blip. It was achieved by good cricketers being well led. That much is certainly true of the present team, who have finished the season as the champion county. Gatting is at home with players like Emburey, Fraser and Desmond Haynes. He admires the way they think about the game, talk about it. "After a day's play we try to get all the players to sit down and talk about the game. We're looking for awareness, understanding. There's a tendency for some of the young players in county cricket to finish playing, put the gear on and go out dancing. That's sad," he said. What about one or two of the younger players in the Middlesex team who have a reputation for being difficult or temperamental? Ramprakash for instance. "He has never tried it on with me." Next question. What about Tufnell? He thought carefully about this one. "He knows where he stands with me," he said, eventually. It is not inconceivable that Mike Gatting might have skippered England as long as Allan Border captained Australia. There are few who doubt he is England's best county captain. He was the last England captain to win the Ashes in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter. The reason he did not emulate Border is the much-discussed incident at Faisalabad where he had a row with the Pakistan umpire Shakoor Rana. "Worst mistake of my life. What I did was wrong in that you must never argue with an umpire. I think I should have come home. Perhaps the team should have pulled out. Something needed to be done. A lot was going on and nothing was being done about it." What was going on? He smiled, sadly: "I'm not going to say any more about it. I'd only get into more trouble. One day the truth will be told." Scyld Berry, the experienced cricket correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph, covered the tour and had no doubt what was happening. He wrote: "The Faisalabad Affair has been almost buried, if not covered up, so that the essential truth of it has not been widely grasped. Beyond reasonable doubt the England players were right in thinking that the Test series was 'fixed' by a Pakistan regime which has mercifully moved on. Pressure, direct and indirect, was put on the umpires to bring about a Pakistan victory in the first Test and to halt England in the second at Faisalabad. When Gatting exploded . . . most human beings would have done the same as he did, following the accumulated injustices. Gatting was as good as stitched up." The injustice rankles still, particularly because of a further demonstration of Rana's seedy nature. A year later the umpire, who was writing a book about the incident, turned up at Worcester, where Middlesex were playing, accompanied by a newspaper photographer. "He was tapping on the window of my car saying he wanted to talk to me, to explain things. All the time the photographer was snapping away. A stunt. I didn't react. One day I'll give my version of events," said Gatting. Rana might be a clown, and worse, but he did for the captain of England. There is little doubt that when Gatting was deposed for behaving irresponsibly in inviting female company to his hotel room for a drink, the hierarchy had more on its mind than a mere dalliance with a barmaid. Gatting has no doubt. "It was a back-dated punishment," he said. That led to Gatting going to South Africa. It might have made him a lot of money but it did little for his public relations. "I felt left out and let down by the England set-up. Was I condemned to county cricket for the rest of my life? That uncertainty pushed me to South Africa. "What it taught me was to do a bit of homework before jumping into a volatile situation. What it also showed me was how all sides used cricket as a propaganda weapon," he said. What he miscalculated was the kind of madness stirred by an emotive issue like South Africa. His wife received death threats. He had to employ a security firm to guard the house. When the authorities decided to pardon the rebels the scene was set for Gatting to write a satisfying final chapter to his career. Instead, he was part of the debacle in India and Sri Lanka and an early casualty of the hammering by the Australians. If he ever thought the gods were against him -and he had every reason to believe so - then the message of confirmation was delivered by Shane Warne in the Old Trafford Test. His first ball to Gatting pitched way outside leg stump, turned square and took Gatting's off bail. It announced an extraordinary new talent to Test cricket, triggered a series of events which led to a fundamental rethink of the England set-up and sealed the fate of stalwarts like Gower and Gatting. "It's not the end of my cricket career. I might not play for England again but I am certainly going to go on playing for Middlesex. I reckon I have three to four more years in me. I still have an appetite for cricket. Even if I wasn't captain, I would play on as a member of the team if they wanted me. After that? Wouldn't mind a job as coach. Like to put something more back into the game," he said. Coming from someone else it sounds like a cliche. From Mike Gatting it is a statement of intent. It is good news for Middlesex that he is not disenchanted with the game. It gives the county a guarantee that for a few more years any victory for the opposition will be gained only over the dead body of Mike Gatting. For all the tumult of his career, he has few regrets. "What I would like to have done was play in that period of time when Compo and Edrich were at Lord's and the crowds spilled over on to the grass. That would have been nice. I'd have liked to have gone to Australia on a boat as they used to. Take your time getting there. It must have been wonderful to have played in a more leisurely era," he said. It may be that when he finally departs there is less of a lament than accompanied Ian Botham or is likely to be heard when David Gower goes. He is not the sort of cricketer to cause an extraordinary meeting of the MCC, nor the kind who would be comfortable sitting on stage telling anecdotes. And yet he is more durable than they and his contribution to cricket - particularly his beloved county - is something few cricketers have achieved. (Thanks: The Daily Telegraph and Muthu) posted by Vicky on r.s.c.