Mike Gatting

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Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988.

He toured South Africa as captain of the rebel tour party in 1990. He replaced John Buchanan as the county coach, serving during 1999 and 2000. He is currently an elected member of the Middlesex C.C.C. Executive Board and the M.C.C. Committee.

He has previously served as the ECB managing director of Cricket Partnerships and President of Marylebone Cricket ClubCricket writer Colin Bateman has stated that "talk of Gatting the batsman always evokes adjectives such as pugnacious, bold, brave and belligerent".

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Youth career

Gatting, a youngster, became the first batsman to score a century on Youth ODI's debut in 1976. In that innings against the West Indies U19's, he scored 126 runs.

Career

Gatting used to play football for Watford reserves before playing cricket for a living. Gatting, a fourteen-year-old goalkeeper on trial at Queen's Park Rangers, was told he was too short and overweight to make the grade. Gatting was also on an unfruitful trial with fellow Londoners Arsenal F.C. That being said, he turned to cricket for his sporting future, and QPR signed Phil Parkes, the other trialist on the day.

Gatting was one of England's most consistent batsmen for the bulk of his career, but he took several years to establish himself in the England squad. He had a difficult time converting fifties into centuries at Test match level, but he didn't get to a Test century until his fifty-fourth Test innings; instead, he went on to rack up ten hundreds of hundreds in all. In Madras, he got his highest Test score of 207. Graeme Fowler scored a double century in the same innings, marking the first time when two English batsmen scored double centuries in the same innings of a test match. In 1986/87, Gatting led England to a triumph in Ashes in Australia.

Gatting's nose was shattered by a ferocious delivery from West Indies fast bowler Malcolm Marshall during a one-day match in 1986. Shards of the nose were embedded in the ball's leather, which was later discovered by Marshall. The incident set the tone for the series as the West Indies' ferocious pace attack sparked England's thrashing 5–0.

Greg Dyer, the Australian wicketkeeper, has caught Gatting in another mishap since attempting to play a reverse sweep off opposing captain Allan Border's first ball in the 1987 World Cup final.

Gatting earned notoriety in the "Sharkoor Rana" case in 1987 when he clashed with umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad. He had been accused of illegally altering the field, i.e. Since the bowler had started running, he had been warned. In fact, Gatting had been warning the long leg fielder to avoid walking in, and the change was legal because it was not in the batsman's eyeline. Rana yelled "stop, stop" and flagged dead ball, but Gatting was enraged. Following a series of umpiring decisions against England, the tempers were already frayed, and the England team was alarmed that Rana was wearing a Pakistani jacket under his jacket. The result of an on-pitch argument erupted, in which Rana accused Gatting of breaking the rules and Gatting yelled 'We made the rules.' Bill Athey had to drag him away. Rana refused to return to the match the following morning until Gatting made a handwritten apology, which he did under protest – eventually, the game was called off due to bad lighting. The England hierarchy favored him, flying officials out to mediate with the board and deal with press relations. Rana was named Umpire for the deciding Test by the Pakistan board, who later announced two other umpires when it was obvious that the England team would not play if Rana officiated. In fact, the TCCB gave every participant in the England team a £1000 'hardship' reward for the tour.

Cricinfo's editor, Martin Williamson, reacted angrily to the incident, 'Whatever the cause was, Gatting was in the wrong place.' Later, Gatting regretted that "it wasn't a proud moment of my career." He also confessed that, whatever the official explanations were given, it was the sole reason why he lost the England captaincy the following summer. However, Rana said it went a long way toward establishing the rule of superiority over the players, which had not necessarily been the case before, and that it was 'for umpires everywhere.'

Gatting was suspended as England captain the following summer after an alleged encounter with a barmaid, sparking the "summer of four captains." He later led a turbulent resistance tour to South Africa. During the tour, Gatting made news by describing a demonstration outside the rebel team's hotel as "a few people singing and dancing." The rebels received three-year international bans.

Gatting was given Shane Warne's first delivery in an Ashes match in June 1993, during England's first innings at Old Trafford. Warne put the ball a foot out of leg stump and spun the ball around Gatting's bat to cut the off bail. Gatting's dismissal in the second innings was also strange, as he was bowled off the very last ball of the fourth day's play by Merv Hughes, leaving him unable to assist England bat out the final day. During the last session on that last day, Australia went on to win.

The last Tests of Gatting were played in Australia in 1994/95. Although Graham Gooch and himself were the only two members of the original touring party to be fit for all games, the two oldest in the team were the two oldest. He scored his final century (117), a tense effort in which he spent a considerable amount of time in the nineties. England's scoring gave the team their first victory in the series.

Gatting was a good right arm medium speed bowler. In both first-class and List A cricket, he averaged under thirty with the ball, but in International cricket, he did not bowl with a great deal. During his final One Day International of the 1989/90 rebel England tour to South Africa, where his 6/26 led England to a 134-run victory.

In 1984, Gatting was named one of Wisden's top Cricketers of the Year. He was granted an OBE in 1987.

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