HALL OF FAME - No 2... Graham Gooch: He was the best cricketer I ever played with, writes Nasser Hussain
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Sportsmail's brand new Hall of Fame - celebrating the greatest sporting champions in history - continues this week with one of English cricket's best ever players.
Each week, one of our team of writers will nominate their latest pick and write why they are being included.
In the second edition of our series, we feature former England batsman Graham Gooch. Sportsmail's Nasser Hussain, ex-England captain, explains why the man who once scored 333 deserves the accolade.
Graham Gooch was the best cricketer I ever played with, just ahead of Mark Waugh, and not only that, I believe that he is the best batsman England have ever produced.
David Lloyd will tell you that Kevin Pietersen has now surpassed Gooch and while I am a big fan of KP I still reckon my old Essex captain has the edge.
He was the perfect captain and role model for a young cricketer making his way in the game as I was under Gooch for both Essex and, then, England.
Racking up: Graham Gooch scored 8,900 runs for England in 128 Tests
Huge: Gooch celebrates his 333 against India
Graham was an incredibly passionate country and county man. He loved playing for Essex and he would never have contemplated appearing for anyone else. But if anything he loved playing for England more.
The man was a run machine, it was what he was born to do. He never seemed to get nervous and it wasn’t about the money for Goochie. He just loved every minute of it and couldn’t get enough of batting.
He was always so level-headed, too, and would just come back to the dressing room after he was out and calmly put his gear away and get on with his mail or other chores whether he made a century or a duck. There was no throwing his toys out of the pram with Graham.
In my day, when you would play virtually every day in county cricket, a lot of players would almost pray for rain and would certainly relish any opportunity to put their feet up that the elements might bring.
Not Graham. He really wanted to play and he was famous for always rushing back after a Test match and giving maximum commitment to his county in every match he could play, something that just would not be possible today.
And he was good, too. Ask Shane Warne how good Goochie was against spin. Ask the legendary West Indian pacemen how good he was against them. It was only dibbly dobbly medium-pace that would sometimes cause him problems, usually in the form of Terry Alderman of Australia. But against the best pace and spin Gooch was as good as anybody of his generation.
Team-mates: Gooch with Nasser Hussain during a training session in 1999
I'll drink to that: The former England batsman with West Indian legend Sir Viv Richards
Arm round the shoulder: England captain Alec Stewart hugs Gooch when he was a selector
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His influence over me extended to international cricket in 1989 when I was still a young and pretty raw batsman. I was picked for the 1990 tour of West Indies and Graham sent us off to practice with Geoff Boycott in the indoor nets at Headingley where Boycott would have bouncers propelled at us from 15 yards.
Gooch would be at the forefront of this and I remember thinking that if it was good enough for Graham Gooch it was good enough for me. It was really beneficial practice and Gooch was very keen to embrace Boycott’s single-minded determination and get him on board.
That 1990 tour was a pivotal one in English cricket history. I had grown up seeing England repeatedly lose 5-0 to the West Indies but here was Graham and Allan Lamb taking them on with the captain once again leading by example what was a pretty young England side.
Royal appointment: Gooch meets Prince Charles at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Sri Lanka
Shower: Gooch soaks Graham Thorpe with champagne on the Trent Bridge balcony
Greeting: Queen Elizabeth II meets Gooch at The Oval during a match between Surrey and Essex
Gooch and Micky Stewart were ahead of their time, too, in terms of fitness work and preparation and you can still see their influence today in terms of modern methods and increased professionalism in English cricket.
The only thing you would say is that Graham would always expect people to do things his way, the hard-working way. There were characters who did things differently, like David Gower, and if Graham had a weakness it was in not really understanding what made people like him tick. It is a minor blemish.
When I played for Essex Graham would always be first in the nets at 8.30am and he is still at it today in his capacity as England batting coach. Every time I arrived for a day’s cricket last summer Goochie was already there, often working with Ian Bell, and also with the latest young lad from Essex he has high hopes for, Ben Foakes. Graham worked with Foakes at Test matches all last summer and it was fascinating to watch his enthusiasm and passion which remains undimmed.
I suppose the one blot on Gooch’s record is his participation in a rebel tour of South Africa and it is, perhaps, the one thing that deep down he regrets. Certainly he loved playing for England more than anything and it must have really hurt him to miss three years of Test cricket. Can you imagine the figures he would have put on the board if he had had another three years with England?
Snip: Shane Warne has hair loss treatment in 2005 with some help from Gooch
Good company: The former Essex and England star lets British athlete Sarah Wilhelmy (left) and model Helena Boyko test his hair replacement treatment in a London gym in 2002
Close shave: Gooch sporting a clean look for a commercial deal with Wilkinson Sword
Graham is, of course, still England’s record Test run scorer but he is playing a big part now in making sure that the current generation go past him. Certainly Alastair Cook, another Essex lad he has helped enormously, Pietersen and Bell could all end up with more Test runs than Graham. And do you know what? He would be the most delighted of anyone if and when it happens.
Graham Gooch cares about English cricket and cricketers as much as anyone I know and, although I gave serious thought to my boyhood heroes in David Gower and Seve Ballesteros for our Hall of Fame, it has to be Goochie for me. He is a worthy recipient.
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MAROONUNIT, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 3 months ago
Considering he started his career with a 'pair' against Australia, amazing stats!