With a Test match record of 229 wickets at 28.39 to his name and an Ashes hat trick to boot, Darren Gough is widely considered one of England’s greatest ever fast bowlers. Full of charisma on and off the field of play, he was one of the very few cricketers that put bums on seats no matter the circumstances. A veteran of 17 Tests against Australia, winner of the third series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, pundit on talkSPORT radio - and of course brand ambassador for Plusnet broadband - the colourful Yorkshireman is that rare breed of sportsmen who transcends his chosen profession.
Sport.co.uk caught up with the charming 40-year-old to discuss his life in the media, Twitter, Yorkshire’s chances of glory and the future of English cricket from captaincy to up-and-coming talents.
Afternoon Darren, how are you enjoying life as a pundit?
I’m loving it, it’s fantastic. It’s totally not what I expected. It’s a lot harder than I thought it was going to be; you have to be really prepared for what you’re going to be talking about. Other than all the prep it’s fantastic. I love the excitement every day. I get to the studio about 2 o’clock and don’t know what we’re going to talk about. I have a look around, check out things which haven’t been talked about. With it being a drive time show you need it to be fresh, unless it’s a story which you can talk about all day.
Has your view of the media changed since you were a player?
If you ask anybody what I was like with the media as a player and they’d tell you I was always pretty open and honest. I’m not really doing anything different, I still try and be as honest as I can be and I’ve enjoyed it, it has been a terrific experience. Doing what I do [at talkSPORT] I’m not strictly a journalist, I’m a sports analyst and I enjoy that side of things. I’m very lucky to have moved from playing a sport I love, to having a job where I talk about sport as a whole.
You’ve got over 90,000 followers on Twitter, which is pretty impressive by anyone’s standards. Do you find it a good platform to compliment your other media work?
I think so. Obviously you get the odd idiot who will just try and wind you up just to make a name for himself and get more followers. Other than that I think it’s fantastic. I always try and reply to the messages if someone asks me a question; I don’t just ignore them and I don’t do it to get followers. I just try to interact with people and if they don’t agree with what I say on talkSPORT I try and talk them around on Twitter. Most of the time it’s quite unbelievable but they actually come round to my way of thinking. I’m either good at persuading people or I was right all along! I’m not sure which it is!
Right well let’s put your analyst skills to good use. How do you feel about Yorkshire’s chances of winning a trophy this year?
I think Yorkshire’s best chance of winning a trophy this year has got to be in the one day game. We’ve had a good one day side for quite a while. In my last two years there we really thought that was what we could excel at and they’ve carried it on in my absence. You look down the whole squad and it’s a very young squad, very energetic and good in the field. There are players that can attack the ball. I think one day cricket is a fantastic starting block for Yorkshire. We’ve gone into this season with no overseas players, which I think is fantastic by the way, and it shows what the coaching set-up think of some of the youngsters coming through the ranks.
Adil Rashid has enjoyed a great start to the season with his 11 wicket haul in the first match at Worcestershire. Do you think it’s time England gave him a proper chance?
I think they will do. It was obvious in the World Cup that England missed somebody who is going to take wickets. You only have to look at Imran Tahir; he couldn’t get in the Yorkshire side when he came and played for us because of Adil Rashid. He’s since gone to Hampshire and Warwickshire and then went to the World Cup [with South Africa]. The games he played he was a wicket taker, he’s something different. I think England if they are to going to go forward in the one day game need someone like Adil Rashid.
Adam Lyth had a breakthrough season last summer, winning the Young Player of the Year award. After a brilliant start to his county career, how difficult will this season be now that opposition bowlers and captains know what to expect from him?
I gave him his debut when I was captain...I gave most of them their debuts! Of course he’ll have a tougher season, it always happens when a player comes on to the scene and has a really good first year because nobody has really seen him. The second and third years are always harder because people work you out. It’s the same with Test cricket, you know? You can go into a Test team and get off to a flyer with the bat, like I did on my debut; it looked like I was an all-rounder. However, people work you out, the look at your game, analyse your strengths and attack your weaknesses. There better players, like Sachin Tendulkar, keep reinventing themselves and working on their weaknesses. When somebody works out his weakness again, he’ll work on that even more and then they’ll figure something else. Reinvention is the art of Test cricket. Be able to do that makes the best players successful. Test cricket is exactly that, a test.
Would you say Kevin Pietersen needs to follow that advice?
Definitely. Kevin Pietersen needs to reinvent himself because people are working him out and bowling negatively at him. Bowlers used to go full and straight at him when he first walked in and then they figured that they just had to bowl a yard outside off stump knowing he’d go after the ball. Kevin now needs to work a way of playing that.
Yorkshire seem to have an endless conveyor belt of talent coming through their system. What do you put that down to?
It’s a lot of hard work from the coaches involved with the boys from such a young age. My boy plays for Buckinghamshire under-13s and they played Yorkshire last year at under-12 level and some of the talent coming through at that age is ridiculous. They and Essex are so far ahead of any other county in the country at that age group, and I’m not just saying that because I played there. It’s probably got something to do with the coaching they receive before they reach the academy but once at Yorkshire they’re part of a conveyor belt, as you say, of fast bowlers. Myself, Chris Silverwood, Matthew Hoggard, Ryan Sidebottom, we’ve all come through Steve Oldham. There are more and more coming through, Ajmal Shazad, you can just go on and on. Apparently, from speaking to Steve, which I do often, the guys coming through at 14, 15 and 16 are going to be good as well.
The future looks promising for England as a whole, with a lot of good young players including Ben Stokes at Durham, James Taylor at Leicestershire and Chris Woakes at Warwickshire all holding down important positions in their respective county sides. Would you agree that the future is bright?
Let’s hope so. I mean they’re up there already given the way they performed in the winter. OK they beat an Australia side in decline we all know that. There was no Shane Warne, no Glenn McGrath, no Adam Gilchrist and players like that but they still have good players. Ricky Ponting is still a fantastic player, Michael Clarke is still a fantastic player, Watson was one of the players of the year in world cricket you know? It was a great effort to win in Australia, it gets a monkey off the back.
How do you think they’ll fair against India and Sri Lanka this summer?
I’d fancy us to beat Sri Lanka, they’ve obviously got a much weakened team without Muttiah Muralitharan. I think India is going to be a great series, I’m looking forward to that. I’ve taken a lot of stick but I think England will win it 2-1, but it’s going to be hard work. India are getting better and better away from home, they’re so dominant at home, but they’re a force now away as well now so it’ll be very interesting.
There is a lot of talk that Andrew Strauss will lose the ODI captaincy. Do you think this would be a good move?
I think Andrew Strauss is a terrific player in all forms of the game, and I think he’s a terrific captain. However, anybody who knows what they’re talking about on cricket issues will tell you that Andrew Strauss struggles to hit down the ground against spin and against slower bowlers. Now in India and Sri Lanka we all know that to be successful and consistent on the one day basis you have got to be able to hit down the ground as Tillakaratne Dilshan, Taranga Dhammika, Mahela Jayawardene and all the players who were successful in the World Cup did. You’ve got to be able to hit over the top. Andrew Strauss struggles to do that and in India that was vital.
The next World Cup though is not going to be in that part of the World so for me Andrew Strauss should probably carry on if he is planning on being around at the next tournament. I’ve no doubt about that. If he’s not going to the next World Cup then it’s got to be Kevin Pietersen who has done it before. Kevin always needs a challenge, you get the best out of him when he has a challenge and I think he’s a very good captain who thinks outside of the box. He’s also not really bothered about what idiots say about him so he can handle that side of the game quite well.
If you’re going to go for somebody totally the opposite and someone who has not done it before then you pick Ian Bell who has done it for Warwickshire on occasions in one day cricket last year. He did it very well actually, stayed calmed, changed the field when he had to in Twenty/20 and he probably deserves a chance if they don’t go back with Kevin Pietersen.
Cheers for talking with us Darren. Good Yorkshire sense as always...
Darren Gough is supporting the launch of Plusnet Fibre Optic Broadband. To find out more go to plus.net/fibre