Gower fears over Stokes captaincy

Better to inspire from the ranks like Botham

DAVID GOWER is trying to imagine scoring a hundred at a biosecure Test match, watched only by a chosen few. He is not finding it easy.

A man for the occasion during his beguiling 117-Test career, he was lifted by a full house at Lord’s, less so by a wet Wednesday at Leicester. The only Englishman to score more than his nine Ashes hundreds, after all, is Jack Hobbs. So it is little surprise that the idea of walking out to bat against West Indies before a deserted Ageas Bowl on July 8 — the first leg of the ECB’s attempts to salvage something from this Covid- hit summer — strikes him as ‘eerie’.

‘When you walk out at Lord’s or the MCG, you feel the buzz,’ says Gower. ‘At its best, it can provide spine-tingling inspiration. To play in front of a full house is a big part of the experience. Raising your bat in front of 250 people, not all of whom have been watching, is not quite the same thing.’

These are curious times for cricket, and no less curious for Gower, who is spending lockdown a this home in Hampshire, doing the crossword and going on countryside bike rides— reminiscent, perhaps, of his famously relaxed approach to training during his playing days.

At the same time, he has agreed to become president of the Lord’s Taverners, which has been ‘giving young people a sporting chance’ for 70 years, and relies for charitable donations on the kind of mass gatherings — lunches, auctions, matches — rendered impossible by the pandemic.

And he is about to discover exactly how he feels about watching his former colleagues in the Sky commentary box embark on a new summer — his first as a viewer for two decades after the broadcaster controversially dispensed with his services.

‘I’d better be careful what I say,’ says Gower. ‘ But it’s something I’ve loved doing and am still very capable of doing, though I understand my chances of still doing it are slim. It will feel strange. I honestly can’t predict what I’ll do. I’ll probably forget it’s on and inadvertently boycott it. But anyone who loves the game will want to follow it.’

Assuming he does remember that the cricket is on, the sense of strangeness will be compounded by watching Joe Root’s team try to make the transition from socially distanced net sessions to a fullblown Test match.

‘ Levels will have to be raised straightaway,’ says Gower. ‘These guys are used to playing highintensity international matches for 11 months a year. They’ve been craving a rest for a long time, but the irony is you have to be careful what you wish for.

‘Some will be a bit rusty. It will be very similar to starting any series. If you get a bit of luck early on, you might click straight back in. But if your first couple of innings are single figures, you might start to worry.

‘The bigger challenge is going to be these eco-secure environments. I was always glad to get away from the regime. But the players are going to be bunked up with the same group of people for a couple of months.’

Then there is the prospect of Root missing the first of the three Tests against West Indies because his wife, Carrie, is due to give birth to their second child. In that case, the captaincy would pass for the first time to Ben Stokes — a scenario that leaves Gower with a faintly uncomfortable sense of déjà vu.

He says: ‘All have said how good he will be. I’ve said it before, but I prefer Ben Stokes to be your de facto leader by example. He works his nuts off, and trains super hard. He’s a driven cricketer.

‘The obvious comparison is Beefy [Ian Botham], who was of that ilk, who inspired and led just by being there. Whether that is diminished by the pressures of leadership, only Ben will know.

‘I’m sure he’ll do it with gusto. I’d just want someone else to worry about the bits and pieces that make up captaincy.’

And what of the wider picture, the one that depicts the biosecure Tests as more than a means of mitigating the financial burden on the ECB?

‘Sport has a role to play in the wellbeing of the nation,’ says Gower. ‘People who follow sport get a lot from it: it’ s not as significant as other things, but it’s magnificently insignificant. It will be a huge fillip to lots of people.’

He sounds almost presidential.