What we do have is a good coach in Duncan Fletcher, with a knack of getting to the rub of things. And a good captain in Nasser [Hussain]."As good a captain as D I Gower? Another wry smile "Oh, he's much better than me. He has a far better attitude to communicating with the players And there's a lot of steel there. But after a poor summer with the bat he must try, as much as he can, to isolate his batting from his captaincy."Hussain's batting, as Gower says, is temporarily in the doldrums. But as a captain he is enjoying a fine run of form, and in this summer's triumphant series against the West Indies he deployed his bowlers with particular guile. In Pakistan much again rests on the sturdy shoulders of Andrew Caddick, Gough, Dominic Cork and Craig White "What happens with the new ball will be key," says Gower. "But it will also be very interesting when the old ball starts to reverse swing."Reverse swing is one of cricket's darker arts, and one surrounded by allegations of ball-tampering.
Whether illegally enhanced or not, it is essentially a Pakistani art, supposedly perfected in the early 1980s by Sarfraz Nawaz. "I first encountered it, without really knowing it, when Pakistan came here in 1982," says Gower. "Mudassar [Nazar] bowled us out at Lord's, swinging the ball prodigiously, and I remember looking at the ball to see what he'd been doing to shine it."Gower pauses. This is still controversial territory, and of course the subject of a dramatic trial involving Imran Khan (who had admitted ball-tampering) and an outraged Ian Botham (who vehemently denied it). In fact, Gower was called on to give evidence in support of Botham. "I like to think," he says, "that I held my own against [Imran's barrister] George Carman. It was one of the proudest moments of my career, like appearing at Lord's for the first time.
Except it was the Old Bailey, and George was there, his eagle eyes glinting away, conducting some erudite discussion about what you can do with a cricket ball. Imran's assertion was that everyone did it [tampered with the ball]."Choosing his words with more care than usual, Gower then adds: "There is an aspect to this which says that even if you have applied a fingernail or whatever, there is still an element of skill involved. You're not meant to have pockets full of serrated knives and sandpaper, but if you can still make it do things.. [longish pause]... without giving too much away, I know that some of our bowlers tried [ball-tampering] in the late 1980s, but Wasim [Akram] and Waqar [Younis] were still getting the ball to swing a mile while we weren't You've still got to make it do things. Of course, reverse swing is now a respected and accepted principle, and the ball will wear naturally.
Goughie uses it very well."Indeed, but can we just return to Botham, because as Gower has reminded me, his long-ago mother-in-law jibe is not his only offence against Pakistan, there was also the highly acrimonious legal business with Imran. I don't suppose Botham is apprehensive about his reception over there. When, after all, was Botham ever apprehensive about anything? But I wonder whether he has given it much thought? Has Gower talked to him about it?"We spoke a couple of days back, but not really about that. I know he's put the court case behind him." You mean he and Imran have made up? Gower smiles "No, I don't think they've made up. They both still occupy, let's say, rather entrenched positions But we had other things to talk about. For instance, Ian said to me, 'if you're not already bringing a bottle of Scotch, make sure you do.' "Has Gower, like Botham, hung up his flannels? The latter, I know, has not picked up bat or ball since the day he retired from the first-class game.
Gower, by contrast, has turned out in various charity games."But I won't do it again The truth is that.. I.. do.. not.. like.. playing.. any... more." That is how he says it, labouring each word for effect. "I am obviously not as good as I was, and I do not want to slide off slowly into cricketing impotency. I used to play in Victor Blank's big day for the Wellbeing Foundation, in a lovely location in the middle of Oxfordshire, from which Wellbeing benefit by a huge sum, so I feel guilty saying I don't want to play, but I really don't. Fielding has become top of the list of occupations during which I think to myself, 'what else could I be doing over the next three hours?' And the answer, even in the middle of Oxfordshire, is quite a lot. I look round and think 'why am I dressed like this? Look at these flannelled fools.' " Gower looks as stricken as it is possible for Gower to look "I think, 'oh God, why didn't I have flu today?' ".