Gough: Proud patriot deserves his place in history (4 January 1999)

4 January 1999

Gough: Proud patriot deserves his place in history

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

OF the 23 hat-tricks in 112 years of Test cricket, four have been taken by bowlers involved in the current Test series - Shane Warne, Damien Fleming, Dominic Cork and now Darren Gough, following his devastating demolition of three Australian wickets in a row on Saturday. Gough's was the best deserved of all.

This is a fine fast bowler in his pomp. He has performed magnificently all tour, fuelled by a burning desire to win back the Ashes for England, and, that mission having failed, some respect for the old country. The Aussies may not think much of some of England's cricketers, but they esteem Gough. He has come back with a vengeance from the drubbing he received from Michael Slater in the second innings at Brisbane. In that match his figures were one for 185; in the next four games, with power to add today, he has taken 19 more wickets at 23 runs each.

If England lose this last Test, and the series 3-1, the 10-minute hat-trick on the evening of Jan 2 will be a small consolation. I know at least two of the 42,000 throng who left before the climax of the day, eager to beat the rush. One of them heard the roar which greeted the first wicket just as he got to the gates on the Moore Park Road.

Only four overs of the day remained at that time. Ian Healy had shaped to cut the fourth ball of Gough's 17th over, but it lifted and cut back, cramping Healy, who nudged it to the wicketkeeper and walked to the side of his crease, head down, hoping the umpire had been looking the other way. No such luck.

Gough gathered himself for Stuart MacGill, whose 43 in the first innings at Melbourne seemed to have turned the match Australia's way. Now he was unable to get his bat down on a 90mph yorker which ripped out his middle stump.

"I've been on a hat-trick a few times in Test cricket. This time I was more relaxed," said Gough later. He ran in at full bore as usual and produced for the unfortunate Colin Miller another searing yorker which, this time, swung away late to hit the off stump. Gough had become the first Englishman to take a hat-trick in a Test against Australia since J T Hearne at Headingley in 1899; and only the ninth Englishman to claim a hat-trick in a Test.

The last to do it, Cork, 12th man here, came on with a drink and congratulations. The Saturday morning when he took wickets with the first three balls in the day against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 1995 represented a heady triumph for Cork; too heady perhaps. Gough, simple, smiling, happy, friendly fellow that he is, will not be spoiled. He simply revelled in the moment of joy but it will be tinged with disappointment in retrospect if England should lose. He is a patriot and proud of it.

Dean Riddle, England's fitness adviser, has helped our Darren to achieve a level of strength and health which shines from him. This is the first time he has managed to get through a five-Test series without an injury.

He has worked very hard to conquer a succession of injuries but at 28 the demands of the amount of cricket he plays and the vigorousness of his action are such that he may never be quite so fit, nor bowl quite so fast, as he has done in Melbourne and Sydney. We must enjoy him while we can.

Gough's bowling philosophy is simple. "I just bowl it down the other end and if I don't know which way it's going to swing, I don't think the batsman will. The ball to Miller ended up being probably the best I've bowled all series."

It may be said without sentimentality that it could not have happened to a better bloke.

Test match hat-tricks by England bowlers

W Bates v Australia (Melbourne) 1882-83

J Briggs v Australia (Sydney) 1891-92

G A Lohmann v S Africa (Port Elizabeth) 1895-96

J T Hearne v Australia (Headingley) 1899

M J C Allom v N Zealand (Christchurch) 1929-30

T W J Goddard v S Africa (Johannesburg) 1938-39

P J Loader v West Indies (Headingley) 1957

D G Cork v West Indies (Old Trafford) 1995

D Gough v Australia (Sydney) 1998-99

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)