Where does Gooch rank among England's greatest openers?

Saw the highlights of his 135 vs PAK in 1992 against the 2 Ws and Mushtaq. I was quite impressed at how well he was picking Mushtaq, there were some close LBW shouts against the bowling of Waqar but still a brilliant innings especially considering his age( he was 39 at the time).

About half an Alderman.

He had a period of absolute brilliance between 1990 and 1994... He scored 3779 runs @ 60.95 - 12 tons 16 half-tons. This against some really decent attacks.

Apart from that he was shite.

Best Chav to have played Tests?

He's a plastichav at the very best.

a fantastichav, far better than the bald vaseline absorber or the gnome

OR the gangly bear-named crock-knee

Brass Monkey wrote:He had a period of absolute brilliance between 1990 and 1994... He scored 3779 runs @ 60.95 - 12 tons 16 half-tons. This against some really decent attacks.

Apart from that he was shite.

And that was at age 37 to 41. Just shows again how prematurely players retire or are pushed aside by selectors as past it.

What is interesting about Gooch is that he became England's top runscorer despite missing 6 years out of his Test career - 3 years after his first 2 appearances in 1975 when he wasn't selected (which he used to transform himself from a flashy middle-order player into an aggressive opener) and 3 years between 1982 and 1985 when he was banned following his captaincy of the SAB rebel tour to South Africa.

2 innings stand out both against the West Indies - his 129* in the 2nd ODI of the series at Port of Spain in March 1986 against an attack of Garner, Patterson, Walsh & Marshall - an exercise in fearlessness - and his 154* in England's 2nd innings at Headingley in June 1991 - in terms of difficulty of the conditions, quality of attack and contribution to the result an innings that must rank among the top 10 Test innings of all time.

Although his captaincy, particularly against Australia, was criticised he nevertheless managed to break the lacuna of Test victories, both home and away, against the West Indies and he led England to a creditable WC final in 1992. Of all the players who began their careers after WWII he and Boycott are the two stand-out openers and only May and Dexter ever hit the ball harder more consistently.

Of all the England openers I've seen (and there have been more than enough), he's the best by some distance.

And as regards Test cricket, Gooch was the antithesis of Bell ... because he started with a pair.

Coat ... got it.

boomtish!

Goochie got better with age. It's a bit of a surprise he even got the chance to have those great seasons post 1990 because in 1989 he lost form altogether at the age of 36. Could hardly get a run in county cricket and alderman had him on toast.

He may well not have been picked again if it hadn't been for the second rebel Yarpie tour under Gatting. After that it was just him and Gower left as senior batsmen really and he was the obvious man to step into the captaincy. Nobody could have predicted that career-defining year in 1990 or the continued good form that would see his Test career extend into his 40s though.

We have always had good openers in my time of watching England - Atherton, Stewart, Trescothick, Vaughan, Strauss, Cook. None of them have (yet) surpassed Gooch's runs aggregate though.

In answer to the question, some way behind Hobbs, Hutton and Boycott

Those certainly ahead of Gooch:

Hobbs
Hutton
Sutcliffe
Boycott (I guess)

Those about the same:

Edrich
Washbrook (maybe)

IMHO Gooch ranks last among England's greatest openers.

Just checking this out I came across the this outstanding blog

Red would explode correcting the typos in that blog

embee wrote:Red would explode correcting the typos in that blog

Shush.

At his best when scoring 37 out of 49 at Sydny . and 62 at Brisbane.

You couldn't make this shit up.

WideWally wrote:IMHO Gooch ranks last among England's greatest openers.

In the last 30 years I would only rank Atherton's 185* at The Wanderers in December 1995, which only saved a match, and, possibly, Mark Butcher's 173* at Headingley in August 2001 alongside Gooch's 1991 Headingley effort. In terms of ODI innings only Robin Smith's 167* at Edgbaston in May 1993, made in a losing cause, stands comparison with Gooch's 1986 Trinidad score.

taipan wrote:At his best when scoring 37 out of 49 at Sydny . and 62 at Brisbane.

You couldn't make this shit up.

That's Harsh on Thakor.

He could learn that a is a word.

taipan wrote:At his best when scoring 37 out of 49 at Sydny . and 62 at Brisbane.

You couldn't make this shit up.

Both made on "sticky dogs" that are unknown today because of covered wickets. The latter innings was particularly outstanding as Hutton came in at No.8.

England is one team that hasn't produced a world class cricketer like Sachin, Wasim,Ambrose or Sami for at least 3 decades now.
Gooch has to be one of the top 5 English cricketers since 1977(Botham's debut).

PlanetPakistan wrote:England is one team that hasn't produced a world class cricketer like Sachin, Wasim,Ambrose or Sami for at least 3 decades now.
Gooch has to be one of the top 5 English cricketers since 1977(Botham's debut).

The worst attempted wind up of all time. (with apologies to horrie)