So long to the dazzler

Darren Gough has announced he will retire at the end of the county season and Angus Fraser gets in an early tribute to him in the Independent:

In the nineties, an era when the England cricket team generally had very little to feel jolly about, Gough put a smile back on the face of the national teams supporters with his wholehearted effort and his joy of life.

When he was the pin-up boy of English cricket Gough loved the freebies that came his way and his corner of a dressing room was filled with watches, training gear, toiletries and fashion clothing he had been sent. He loved showing them off. It used to drive Dominic Cork, his close friend and fellow fast bowler mad. Cork thought he was the main man and could not understand why he never received the same recognition.