Gough volunteers for England's toughest job

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, JULY 10. England's premier fast bowler Darren Gough volunteered for the toughest job in British sport today when he announced that if the selectors were finding it hard to replace the injured Nasser Hussain as captain he would ``love to have a go.'' There would be, Gough said, no hard words afterwards.

``I'll just do it until Nasser comes back,'' he said. ``I bet by the end of the Test I'll be saying `Thank heavens that's over' but I would give 100 per cent as I always do and then Nasser could take over again. He deserves to. He's been a fantastic captain.''

Even Gough - ``our Darren'' or ``Goughie'' or ``Dazzler'' as he is affectionately known in the dressing room - realises his suggestion is a joke. Even in Yorkshire where they take their cricketers very seriously they know that a fast bowler, and particularly one who gives as much as Gough does to his fast bowling, cannot be expected to lead a Test team, much less drive it to compete with the supergods now on earth disguised as the Australian cricket team. They certainly know it in the corridors of power at Lord's. ``Oh, yes?'' followed by a slow smile was the nearest you could get to a reaction today. And rightly so.

The idea of a lad from Barnsley - best know for it lamb chops which are roughly the same size as an archery target - with two O-levels, only one initial and an accent you can cut with a knife stepping into the shoes once worn by Mike Brearley with his triple first from Oxford or the polymath Charles Fry or the Hon. Lionel Tennyson is just, well, unthinkable. Not cricket. Not done.

Besides it is crisis time. Hussain may miss two Tests, Alec Stewart and Mark Butcher, both former captains, have made it clear they don't want the position again, Michael Atherton, 51 times England captain, is reluctant, Michael Vaughan is injured and Marcus Trescothick is inexperienced. I hear that Duncan Fletcher, the coach, wants an old head, and that at least one selectors insists ``we must move forward.''

Who then? John Crawley, the Lancashire captain, already thinking it is time to step away from the poisoned chalice at Old Trafford? David Byas, of Yorkshire, now 37 or Mark Alleyne of the highly-successful one-day champion Gloucestershire who are both without a Test cap? It seems we are ready to take a step back to 1988 when, for various reasons, England chose four different captains as it lost 4-0 to West Indies. That exercise in indecision was partially to blame for the ten years of misery that followed and we don't want a repeat.

The selectors are considering a plan to pick the side first and then name the captain. The Australians have used this method throughout their history and - if you judge only by recent results - it appears to work. For once it might be England's best hope since there appeared to be a great deal of confusion among the Lord's chiefs today.

At least I have a clear mind. As every man and his dog is picking an England captain today I thought I would make my own thoughts available to the high and mighty. I rang one and said: ``Can I suggest Dominic Cork. He is at the end of his career since his knees are beyond further repair but he has been a good captain of Derbyshire since 1998.'' The man, a friend since our youth, gave a startled gasp. ``I've never thought of Cork,'' he said. ``Why not?''

We won't know whether Gough, Cork or Uncle Tom Cobbleigh takes over for 48 hours or so. But it is England's most important decision of the summer and it had better get it right.

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