“He started with a pair, never thought what might come of this.”
Throwback to the late Errol Brown’s (Hot Chocolate) classic, “It started with a kiss, never thought it would get to this.”
The former is what Graham Gooch did; two ducks on debut, courtesy of the Australians at Edgbaston, the year was 1975, and they said, “It can only get better from here.” I did, and some!
It's been nearly 10 years since I sat down with Graham Gooch, one of England’s finest. The venue was The Riverside, Durham’s newly created Test Ground, and England were hosting Australia. Before our 2013 meeting, we had worked together at Durham; Gooch as the club’s remote batting coach and myself as a lost journeyman.
Familiar surroundings.
At the time, Gooch was England’s batting coach; this was England’s home Ashes of 2013. Ten years on, we eagerly await the 2023 version. No doubt, Goochie will be enjoying a glass of red somewhere while plotting a path to victory.
TIME IN THE MIDDLE WITH GRAHAM GOOCH
Published, August 20, 2013. Backpagelead. Nick Speak.
This Ashes series is unique in that it has a return encounter just around the corner. What is not unique, though, is the process of planning, practice and preparation that has been diligently undertaken by both sides.
Looking behind both sets of players and captains in this topsy-turvy Ashes contest, we see two groups of support staff that are polar opposites. Australia’s group is young and dynamic; England’s is solid, experienced and functional.
Darren Lehmann and Andy Flower, the respective head coaches, rely heavily on their support staff. Often coaches’ messages are delivered to the players through these intermediaries and there is no doubt the different skill groups in teams – bowling, batting and fielding – find it easier to connect with their respective skill coach than the more holistic approach.
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In the England dressing room, the names of Graham Gooch, David Saker and Bruce French resonate loudly. On the opposite side of the corridor there is Australia’s coaching team of Allister de Winter (bowling), Michael Di Venuto (batting) and Steve Rixon (fielding).
I believe the men pulling the strings in the England dressing have been the winners in this series. For the most part it has been down to the quality of their players, but the coaches’ weight of cricket experience far outweighs the Australian contribution.
Gooch looms large, in every sense of the word, in the England dressing room. A man who made an inauspicious start to his own Test career, bagging a pair against Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and co in 1975, his record now stands comparison with the best in the history of post-war English cricket. Among his many achievements is his record as the highest English run scorer in Tests with 8,900.
I spent some some time with the England batting coach during the fourth Test. It was after a 30-minute session with Joe Root, working on the young opener’s posture, and a brief opportunity to pick his vast cricket brain.
(Interesting to note that Gooch agrees with the popular belief that the young opener is not getting far enough forward, but says it is his posture that is preventing him from not taking a bigger step with his front foot step. Gooch likens Root to a young Mike Atherton, and is of the opinion that he should remain at the top of the order.)
Off the top, Gooch made it clear to me that he is “not a batting coach” but in fact coaches and teaches “the art of run making”. I found this statement a refreshing change and believe it promotes progressive philosophy when working with elite players at this level. “The jigsaw puzzle is almost complete, I just help them find the final few pieces,” he says.
At the core of his teaching are his four fundamentals: attitude, technique, knowledge and concentration.
Asked what weight he places on each, Gooch said: “The weighting changes with each player, some need a greater dose of concentration than attitude and others the opposite”.
Applied to the Australian group (acknowledged to be in transition) he commented on an imbalance in concentration and technique, something that has been exposed in this series. This imbalance has been shown in their inability to avoid losing wickets in clumps and, less surprisingly, batsmen being at their most vulnerable from 0-20.
The one batsman outside of Michael Clarke who had caught his eye in this series was Steve Smith. “Smith is an interesting player,” Gooch said. “He is unorthodox and can be difficult to bowl at .. and I like his attitude.” Gooch thought there was upside in Smith, and with the correct measure of technique and concentration he could develop the skills required to succeed at Test level.
Back to the fundamental’s, each player might weight them differently, but the order is universal: attitude first, then technique and concentration, and finally knowledge.
Attitude is the cornerstone, without the correct attitude it is very difficult to build the base. Next is technique and concentration, the two go hand in hand, allowing his charges to satisfy his penchant for “daddy hundreds”. There have only been two “daddy hundreds” in the series to date – Michael Clarke’s 183 at Old Trafford and Joe Root’s 180 at Lord’s. Last but not least is knowledge, this is accumulated only on the highway of Test run-making. There is a lone incumbent in the Australian room – Michael Clarke. England have five in Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Bell and Prior.
His teacher-to-player theory is simple: the player is always the master. Gooch says it is his job to build a level of trust in the relationship with the player that allows him then to make suggestions and present ideas that he thinks can add value: “The more tools you have in your bag as a batsman, the better prepared you will be for the variety of situations you will face in the middle”. Wise words from the son of a toolmaker.
I asked him if his own experiences as a Test batsman frame his beliefs on what it takes to succeed in this the most challenging forum of professional cricket. His answer was short and sharp: “You have to make sacrifices.”
He doesn’t demand this of his charges, but he does make it clear to them that without making sacrifices it will be a longer road. For him the sacrifices came in the form of physical conditioning. He had many peers that may have been more talented but now that the dust has settled his career numbers tell their own story.
The morning of day four at Durham allowed time to reflect on the hundred made by Ian Bell the previous afternoon. “A masterclass,” Gooch said, “a player in total control of his game”.
There is only one fundamental that he works on with Bell – attitude. “Ian Bell has the technique, concentration and the knowledge”. Gooch explains his job is just to reinforce the value of attitude, that is encouraging Bell to realise he is a very good Test batsman who has the game to take runs off any attack in the world. This is a far cry from the Ian Bell who was teased by previous Australian sides and dubbed the Shermanator by the egotist Shane Warne.
So as the cricket wheel has turned in favour of English cricket it is important to remember from an Australian perspective what they had, and how to get it back. Australia, should and will, invest heavily in their support crew. Di Venuto and De Winter have the opportunity to build their own style, and look for their own fundamentals. They have the cattle, it just needs herding in the right way.
A wisened farmer once said to me: “there’s two ways of doing things on a farm, the right way and the wrong way.”
In the meantime, one G Gooch will just go about his work as he always has, efficiently and with minimum fuss. He has shunned media opportunities along the way, preferring to be where he is most comfortable – inside an England dressing room driving young men forward to be the best they possibly can.
One day he may have to make his own career sacrifice, that being when to call it all quits to enjoy the fruits of his labour in retirement. After all, he has been representing, coaching and thinking about the three lions for the past 38 years … no mean achievement.
As always, thank you for being here. And, have a great weekend.