LONDON, 20 May 2005 — Former captain Graham Gooch has told England they must be aggressive and force Australia to under-perform if they are to have any hope of regaining the Ashes.
England, currently the No. 2 ranked side in Test cricket, have not beaten Australia since Mike Gatting’s tourists won the 1986-87 series 2-1 and none of the current side have any experience of even coming close to defeating the undisputed world champions in the Test arena.
But Gooch, England’s heaviest run scorer with 8,900 in 118 Tests including 20 hundreds, said yesterday this season’s five-match series, which starts at Lord’s on July 21, represented the hosts’ best chance in a generation of toppling the Australians.
“We have to be aggressive and target some of their top players,” Gooch told reporters at the launch of a school sports initiative in Hackney, east London.
“If England play well and Australia play well then Australia win so we have to get them to under-perform. They have got to go for it and back themselves,” the 51-year-old former Essex opening batsman insisted.
“England have got to play at the top of their game if they are going to beat Australia in two or three matches,” said Gooch whose Test career began back in 1975 with a pair against Australia at Edgbaston.
“It is a big call but they have got a chance if they are aggressive, go out with belief and take the game to Australia. They are not going to beat them if they sit back.
“England are going to have to play their best games ever — across the series. Australia are comfortably the best side in world cricket. They have got the track record and the experience.
“But England are playing well and they’ve confidence although they didn’t play as well as they could in South Africa this winter,” said Gooch who praised the partnership between skipper Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Flecther.
“Michael Vaughan has done well in the captaincy and England has grown stronger under Duncan Fletcher and we have about 15 or 16 players competing for places. “Now players have got to perform to stay in the side. Graham Thorpe is in the side, and quite rightly, but we also have Robert Key, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen pushing for places in the middle order.”
And Gooch pinpointed Vaughan, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and quick bowler Stephen Harmison as three players who must fire for England to have a chance of winning the series.
“Harmison is England’s cutting edge. He is in good form and we need him and Flintoff to stay fit. “For us to have a chance they need to fire and Vaughan needs to score runs like he did (in Australia) two years ago because Australia will target all three of them.”
Predictably Gooch picked out Shane Warne, currently captaining English county Hampshire, as the tourists’ dangerman. He was at the other end in 1993 when Warne bowled his ‘Ball of the Century’ to dismiss Gatting with a savagely turning leg-break at Old Trafford.
Gooch maintained the spinner was still the biggest threat to Vaughan’s chances of making history.
“He makes things happen — he is box office,” said Gooch of Warne. “He plays cricket with his heart on his sleeve and gives it everything. I have got the utmost respect for him and enjoyed all my tussles with him.
“When you play at that level part of the enjoyment is challenging yourself against the best and if you want to make it to the top you have to put yourself on the line. “All the England players should be looking forward to playing Australia,” added Gooch.
