David Gower

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David Gower
England
Personal information
Full name David Ivon Gower
Nickname Lubo, Lu, Stoat
Born 1 April 1957 (1957-04-01) (age 51)
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Role Batsman
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Right arm off spin
International information
Test debut (cap 479) June 1, 1978: v Pakistan
Last Test August 9, 1992: v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 46) May 24, 1978: v Pakistan
Last ODI February 16, 1991: v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years Team
1975-1989 Leicestershire
1977-1987 MCC
1990-1993 Hampshire
Career statistics
Tests ODIs FC LA
Matches 117 114 448 430
Runs scored 8231 3170 26339 12255
Batting average 44.25 30.77 40.08 33.30
100s/50s 18/39 7/12 53/136 19/56
Top score 215 158 228 158
Balls bowled 36 5 260 20
Wickets 1 0 4 0
Bowling average 20.00 - 56.75 -
5 wickets in innings 0 - 0 -
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 n/a
Best bowling 1/1 0/5 3/47 0/4
Catches/stumpings 74/- 44/- 280/1 162/-

As of September 1, 2007
Source: CricketArchive

David Ivon Gower, OBE (born April 1, 1957) is a retired cricket player and current cricket broadcaster. He is best known as a former captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s.

Gower was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. He spent much of his upbringing in Tanzania, but boarded in England at The King's School Canterbury where he was a talented Rugby Union player.[citation needed]

In 1975 he made his debut for Leicestershire County Cricket Club, for whom he played until 1989. From 1990 until 1993 he was with Hampshire.

Gower was an elegant left hand batsman and had a reputation for being aloof, perhaps because of his privately educated background and upper-class accent and manner. Considered a graceful player, his laconic style was often misinterpreted as indifference and a lack of seriousness, an air he bolstered with a variety of "misdemeanours" from apparently "lazy" shots, to practical jokes, even to his preference for blue (not white) socks.[1]

He made his debut in Test cricket in 1978, scoring a boundary from his first ball, bowled by Pakistan's Liaqat Ali and became, by the time of his retirement, the leading scorer in English history. The Ashes series of 1985 was a highlight of his career, with his own batting including three scores in excess of 150. Gower occasionally opened the innings, but was mainly a middle-order batsman.

Despite his casual reputation David Gower played a record 119 consecutive Test innings without a duck. He made six noughts in his first 73 innings (44 Tests between 1978 and 1982) but none in his next 66 matches. His only other nought came in the second innings at Melbourne in 1990-91 when England were chasing quick runs for victory. On a more whimsical note, he is one of the few bowlers in Test cricket to have been called for throwing.

In 1987 Gower declined to play in that year's Cricket World Cup as he did not wish to travel, having been on nine successive winter tours since his debut. He never again declined an opportunity to play for England, however. Yet rumours that Gower lacked seriousness gained currency in 1989 when as England Captain he walked out of a press conference claiming he had tickets for the theatre.[2] Most controversially, during the 1991 Ashes Tour in Australia England were playing a warm up match in Queensland when Gower decided to take another player (John Morris) for a joy ride in a Tiger Moth biplane without telling the England Team management. [3] He was fined £1000 for the prank, a penalty that could have been steeper had he released the waterbombs he had also prepared. Gower added insult to injury by posing for press photographs with the planes the next day. England Captain Graham Gooch was enraged by the prank, as he was by Gower's mode of dismissal at a crucial stage of one of the Test matches. During the fourth Test at Adelaide, Gower walked out to the crease to the tune of Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. The last ball before lunch was bowled down the leg side to a leg trap, and all Gower needed to do was block. However, Gower flicked idly at the delivery (Gower was known for his flick shot to the leg side) and was caught at leg-slip. According to Michael Atherton in his autobiography, "Gooch was at the other end and as he walked off his face was thunderous". Gooch, it is widely believed, was instrumental in Gower being left out of the following tour of India. That selection decision prompted an extraordinary vote of no confidence in the selectors at the MCC, but it was to no avail as Gower was not included. He played one more season of county cricket for Hampshire, but in effect his international career was at a premature end at age 35, as England did not see fit to recall him during the 1993 Ashes series despite the heavy defeat they suffered and the threat posed by Shane Warne.

Since that time he has been a commentator throughout the world, and an advocate for endangered African wildlife. Perhaps the best summation of his batting talent comes from Clive Lloyd who noted that Gower would be an automatic selection in his West Indies team regardless. High praise indeed, and a recognition of a genuine match winner with the bat.

Since leaving the game, Gower has enjoyed a new career as a cricket broadcaster and television personality, including being one of the team captains on the popular BBC comedy sports quiz, They Think It's All Over from 1995 till 2003. He also presented four series of the BBC2 cricket magazine show, Gower's Cricket Monthly from 1995 - 1998 and, at the same time was one of the BBC's main cricket commentators. He is now the main presenter of international cricket coverage for Sky Sports and also commentates on the matches - a role he also plays in the video game Brian Lara International Cricket 2005. David was awarded the "Oldie Of The Year" award in 1993.

Ever since his childhood in East Africa, David has maintained an interest in wildlife. He is a Patron of the David Shepherd Foundation and also the World Land Trust. He is also a director of an Internet wine company.

Its also worth mentioning that David Gower has been immortalised in cockney rhyming slang as the term "shower" - e.g. "I'm feeling a bit rank, I'm off for a david" He now resides in Hampshire with his wife who is half icelandic and two daughters

David Gower's career performance graph.
David Gower's career performance graph.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The golden years. The Observer (2007-04-01). Retrieved on 2007-09-01.
  2. ^ Dropping the pilot ... from a great height, Martin Williamson, 2006-04-08, cricinfo (online, consulted 2007-02-04)
  3. ^ When Gower's tour took off, Martin Williamson, 2006-01-14, cricinfo (online, consulted 2007-02-04)

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Bob Willis
Mike Gatting		 English national cricket captain
1983/4–1986
1989		 Succeeded by
Mike Gatting
Graham Gooch