Following our excellent Annual Dinner with Graham Gooch on 27th April one of our Members (Jeremy Biggin) happened to mention to a friend (Paul Deeprose) how much he had enjoyed the Dinner. Paul said “Oh I’ve got a great story about Graham Gooch”
Paul’s covering email and Goochie’s original letter follow below, no other explanation needed…
“As a 15-year-old captain and opening batsman of the Colts XI, I was determined to improve one specific shot: the on-drive. My benchmark was my hero Graham Gooch.
After a few frustrating nets, I did what any ambitious teenager might do and consult the Master himself. He had just returned from a West Indies tour, so I didn’t seriously expect a reply to my letter. But at fifteen, optimism is mandatory.
A while later, I was queuing for breakfast in my boarding house at St John’s School, Leatherhead when I was handed an envelope from Essex County Cricket Club. Inside was a full page of handwritten advice from Gooch himself. It was, quite simply, a lesson in class as much as cover drives.
I still occasionally wonder, whether that attention on my on-drive somehow helped prepare his focus for the epic Ashes summer that followed… obviously not, but I like to think that perhaps I played a small part in history!
And as for never meeting your heroes? Nonsense. I feel I did that day. And I even hit a few decent on-drives that season. A skill I have now passed on to my daughter. Thank you Graham!”
The original letter follows: note the date – two week’s short of 45yrs and is still pristine
