Michael Andrew Gough (born 18 December 1979) is an English cricket umpire and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. Gough is an international umpire and is a member of the

Elite Panel of ICC Umpires The Elite Panel of ICC Umpires is a panel of cricket umpires appointed by the International Cricket Council to officiate in Test matches and One Day Internationals around the world. The panel was first established in April 2002 when the ICC deci ...

, representing the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, ...

Playing career

Having played in two Youth Test matches in 1997, he impressed enough to become a fully fledged member of the

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

side of 1998, having previously been an occasional member of their Second XI side, and carrying on in this role for five more years. In his debut in Second XI cricket, he finished his first innings admirably, but went out in the second innings for a duck. Gough played in eleven Youth Test Matches, debuting in South Africa in December 1997, in a match which ended up as a draw having seen England Under-19s follow on from 130 runs behind. He subsequently played against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia Under-19s. He fell out of love with the sport at the highest level and retired at the age of 23. During a spell working in his father's sports shop in Hartlepool, he played football for Horden, Spennymoor Town, Barrow and in the Hartlepool Sunday Morning League, he decided he wanted to get back involved in cricket as a coach or umpire. He took umpiring exams at Stockton Cricket Club during the winter of 2005 and umpired his first match in the summer of 2005 (Bishop Auckland 3rds v Sedgefield 3rds). Michael has also refereed in the Hartlepool Sunday Morning Football League.

Umpiring career

Gough umpired in the Second XI Championship and in the Second XI trophy, officiating his first game in April 2006. He has umpired in several ODI games and

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

s since he made his debut as an international umpire in 2013. He was selected as one of the twenty umpires to stand in matches during the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...

, where he was the on-field umpire in three group stage matches. On 28 July 2016 he stood in his first

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

, between Zimbabwe and New Zealand at the

Queens Sports Club Queens Sports Club Ground is a stadium in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. It is used primarily used for cricket matches. The stadium has a capacity of up to 13,000. The stadium is the home ground for the Matabeleland Tuskers, who are the current Logan Cu ...

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. In April 2019, he was named as one of the sixteen umpires to stand in matches during the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

. In July 2019, Gough along with Joel Wilson, were promoted to the

, following the retirement of

Ian Gould Ian James Gould (born 19 August 1957) is an English former first-class cricketer and a former member of the ICC Elite Panel of cricket umpires. He previously also served as the chairman of English football club Burnham FC. In April 2019, Go ...

and exclusion of

Sundaram Ravi Sundaram Ravi (born 22 April 1966) is an Indian cricket umpire who was a member of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires between 2015 and 2019. After making his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut in 2011, he officiated in over 100 international match ...

. In April 2020, he was cited as the umpire with the highest percentage of his on-field decisions upheld after a player review, with 95.1% of his on-field decisions upheld after a player review, from all of the 14 umpires who have officiated in at least 10 Test matches since September 28, 2017. Gough was named the ECB Umpire Of The Year for an unprecedented 8 years in a row from 2010. In June 2021, Gough was named as one of the on-field umpires for the

2021 ICC World Test Championship Final The final of the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship, the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, was played from 18 to 23 June 2021 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, England, between India and New Zealand. It was initially scheduled for five da ...

Personal life

He is a supporter of Hartlepool United FC and in January 2021 was appointed honorary president of the Hartlepool United Supporters Trust

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gough, Michael 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Hartlepool English cricketers Durham cricketers English cricket umpires English Test cricket umpires English One Day International cricket umpires English Twenty20 International cricket umpires People educated at English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College Cricketers from County Durham

Playing career

Umpiring career

Personal life

See also

References

External links