43 Facts About Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, he became the most prolific run scorer of all time, with 67,057 runs across first-class and limited-overs games.

Graham Gooch's List A cricket tally of 22,211 runs is a record.

Graham Gooch is one of only twenty-five players to have scored over 100 first-class centuries.

Internationally, despite being banned for three years following a rebel tour to ostracized South Africa, Gooch is the third highest Test run scorer for England.

Graham Gooch's playing years spanned much of the period of domination by the West Indies, against whom his mid-forties batting average is regarded as extremely creditable.

Graham Gooch was the first player to make 20 Test appearances at Lord's.

Graham Gooch returned to coach Essex, before becoming England batting coach in 2012.

Graham Gooch was born in Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone, London.

Graham Gooch was educated at Norlington School for Boys and Leyton County High School for Boys, in Leyton.

Graham Gooch made his debut in Test cricket in 1975 at 21 against the touring Australia side captained by Ian Chappell.

Graham Gooch's debut was not a great success as Gooch got a pair, and England lost the first Test by an innings and 85 runs.

Graham Gooch was not selected for the Test team again until 1978, when his scoring rate for Essex meant that he could not be ignored and he became a mainstay in the England line-up.

Graham Gooch had a further hiatus in his career when he went on the controversial 1982 South African rebel tour, which resulted in all of the players concerned, including Geoff Boycott, Alan Knott and Bob Woolmer, being banned from Test cricket for three years.

Graham Gooch claimed in the film "Out of the Wilderness" that 'others' decided he "had no place in England cricket", hence his decision to join the tour.

Graham Gooch returned to the England team for the Cricket World Cup in India and Pakistan, and the subsequent winter tour of Pakistan.

Graham Gooch's career blossomed later after being appointed captain, a position he held twice: first briefly, at the end of the "summer of four captains" in 1988, as a replacement for the injured Chris Cowdrey.

Graham Gooch played in 3 different world cups in 3 decades - the 1979 Cricket World Cup, the 1987 Cricket World Cup, and the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

Graham Gooch has the distinction of featuring in the finals of all the three World Cups that he played in.

Graham Gooch scored 35 off 57 balls as an opener in that match.

Graham Gooch was the leading run-scorer in the 1987 Cricket World Cup.

Graham Gooch had an ordinary outing this time, scoring 29 off 66 balls with just one boundary.

Graham Gooch is the highest run-scorer for England in World cups, with 897 runs in 21 innings at an average of 44.85 and strike rate of 63.25.

Graham Gooch scored a record 456 runs in the Lord's Test against India in 1990,333 in the first innings and 123 in the second.

Graham Gooch contributed to the decision to omit Gower from England's tour of India in 1993, which proved so controversial that an extraordinary vote of no confidence in the selectors was passed at the MCC.

Gower never played another Test, lending an ironic edge to Graham Gooch's surpassing him as England's leading run scorer in the 1993 Ashes series.

Graham Gooch made a habit of leading by example, his batting average as captain being almost twice his average in the ranks.

Graham Gooch continued playing for England for a couple of years, notably scoring another double century against New Zealand in 1994, and retired from test cricket as England's all-time highest run scorer.

Over his 118 Test career, Graham Gooch played with a record 113 different teammates.

Graham Gooch made his debut for Essex in 1973 at the age of 19, and played for the county until his retirement as a player in 1997.

For Essex, Graham Gooch scored 120 in the 1979 Benson and Hedges Cup final against Surrey, a match which saw Essex win a major domestic trophy for the first time in their history.

Graham Gooch holds numerous Essex batting records: in particular he scored the most first-class runs in a season, and made more first-class centuries for the county than any other player.

Graham Gooch bowled occasional medium pace, and took over 200 first-class wickets.

Graham Gooch could be a prodigious swinger of the ball if conditions suited.

Graham Gooch scored 44,846 runs in all first-class cricket at an average of 49.01, including 128 centuries.

In October 2001, Graham Gooch returned to his beloved Essex in the capacity of head coach, taking over from Keith Fletcher.

Graham Gooch held this role until stepping down in March 2005 to Paul Prichard, his long running opening partner.

Graham Gooch remains at the club, continuing as the squad's specialist batting coach whilst assuming commercial duties for the county.

In November 2009 Graham Gooch was selected as a "temporary" batting coach for the impending four test tour of South Africa and to support ex-Essex colleague, Head England Coach Andy Flower.

Graham Gooch has since remained as England's batting coach on a permanent basis, continuing this role for the 2010 series against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the winter Ashes series against Australia in Australia.

Graham Gooch subsequently has supervised England's batting throughout their rise to number 1 in the Test cricket ICC Rankings.

Graham Gooch was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1990, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at a gathering of the England Cricket Team in the Excelsior Hotel at Heathrow Airport.

Graham Gooch made a one-off return to first-class cricket in July 2000, just a few days before his 47th birthday, when he captained Marylebone Cricket Club against New Zealand A at The Parks.

In 2011 Graham Gooch received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of East London.