Gooch Facing Up To Watching Brief (23 Apr 1996)

Gooch facing up to watching brief

Paul Newman finds England`s newest selector looking forward to challenge of the unknown

ENGLAND`S newest and youngest - bar the captain - selector was to be found in the environment he knows best on Friday, contemplating his future role from the unlikely position of short midwicket.

Graham Gooch, England`s highest Test run-scorer and narrow victor over Brian Bolus in last week`s election, was well protected against the elements as he took to the Chelmsford field for a pre-season friendly against Northamptonshire. It remains to be seen whether he will need similar protection from the differing elements which constitute the selection panel.

A near-deserted county ground is not exactly the place where you would find most selectors on a cold Friday in April but, then, Gooch, 42, is not like other selectors. For a start he is still a player and will be, selectorial duties permitting, for at least this summer when he will join up with Raymond Illingworth, David Lloyd, David Graveney and Michael Atherton in picking England`s teams to face India and Pakistan. For any cricket-loving fly, Illy`s wall will be the place to be.

Illingworth, when stating his preference for Bolus and John Edrich before the election, voiced his doubts about whether a player could be a selector but Graham Saville, chairman of the Essex cricket committee, made the point that the middle is the best place to judge the merits of any young player.

"And what better test of a bowler than seeing how he does against Graham Gooch," added Saville, who confirmed his county will be happy to release Gooch from playing duty whenever necessary. "If he has to be away during every Test it will be just the same as when he was playing for England," he said. Gooch, a more relaxed figure in the winter of his playing career than he ever was when carrying England`s burden, concurs.

"I would have thought most bowlers will now have an added incentive to knock my middle stump over but that happens often these days!" he said. "I don`t mind the extra challenge.

"I still feel I`m playing OK, but at my age I do need that extra something to provide a competitive edge and get me concentrating on my game. Will they think twice before sledging me? Who knows. But I`m looking forward to finding out."

It was Gooch who originally put the idea of his standing for office to Essex and, after discussing the principle of a player being a selector with Doug Insole, "it just snowballed". He was a most passionate captain of England and sees his role now as a supportive one to the captain, coach and chairman, probably in that order.

`I would like to see a slimmed-down county system with fewer players`

"It`s not about personalities," said Gooch. "I believe the captain is the most important member of the set-up; David Lloyd`s a very solid new coach and I`ve always got on well with Raymond. The other selectors are there to encourage, give their views and support and hopefully it will all work out.

"There`s no greater honour than captaining your country but I hope in being a selector I can play a small part in making England successful. That`s all I was interested in when I played and it`s all we should be interested in now."

But what about Illingworth`s reservations on player/selectors? "There`s got to be give and take and we`ve got to see how things work out," said Gooch. "It`s no good being rigid. I`m not going to be and I trust the other selectors won`t be."

In the short-term Gooch will be working on producing "an enthusiastic, good team" and concentrating on the elusive quest for consistency. "I know from when I was captain, and I`m sure Michael Atherton agrees, that we have players of talent in our country and it`s not all doom and gloom," said Gooch. "But it`s no good them just producing the goods in one Test out of six."

And as for the long-term? "We`ve got to look to adjust our county system to breed an atmosphere of competitiveness and improve the attitudes of players coming through," he said. "There`s definitely a mood for change and a committee has been set up to talk about every aspect of the England team. I would like to see a slimmed-down county system with fewer players but whether that will happen remains to be seen."

Whether this will be Gooch`s last season as a player also remains to be seen, but the chances are it will be. He has started talking about being interested in "any coaching offer that comes along" and added: "If the motivation to succeed is still there I won`t say for sure it will be my last year. We`ll have to see at the end of the summer." It will be fascinating to see, then, whether a coaching offer comes from Essex, who are brimming with coaches.

It would be intriguing to hear the opinion on Gooch`s elevation of one of the most talented young players around. Andrew Symonds committed himself to England on the very day Gooch was made a selector, reviving memories of last year`s Cricket Writers` Club dinner.

That night Graveney spent much of his time in conversation with Symonds, apparently trying to convince the Anglo- Australian that his future lay at Gloucestershire. Gooch, meanwhile, refused even to applaud when Symonds received his award as the young player of the year, the legacy of bad feeling between the pair over the batsman`s motives. An interesting topic, perhaps, for early selectorial debate.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)