Mike Gatting
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Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English 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 striki ...
er, who played
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
for
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
(1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three
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) ...
es 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 Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
Cricket writer Colin Bateman has stated that "talk of Gatting the batsman always evokes adjectives such as pugnacious, bold, brave and belligerent".


Youth career

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


Career

Before playing cricket professionally, Gatting used to play football for Watford reserves. As a fourteen-year-old goalkeeper on trial at
Queen's Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Roa ...
, Gatting was told that he was too short and overweight to make the grade. Gatting also went on an unfruitful trial with fellow Londoners
Arsenal F.C Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inc ...
. That being so, he turned to cricket for his sporting future and QPR signed the other trialist that day, Phil Parkes. In domestic cricket, Gatting was one of the most prolific batsmen in England for most of his career, but it took him several years to establish himself in the England team. He initially had great difficulty converting fifties into centuries at Test match level and he did not achieve a Test century until his fifty-fourth Test innings; he went on to accumulate ten hundreds in all. His highest Test score of 207 was scored in
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
.
Graeme Fowler Graeme "Foxy" Fowler (born 20 April 1957) is an English former professional cricketer and cricket coach, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club, England, and later for Durham. He appeared in 21 Test matches and 26 One Day Internationa ...
also scored a
double century In cricket, a century is a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings by a batsman. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century ...
in the same innings; it remains the only occasion where two English batsmen scored double centuries in the same innings of a test match. Gatting later captained England to an
Ashes Ashes may refer to: *Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), a ...
series victory in Australia in 1986/87. During a one-day match in 1986, Gatting's nose was shattered by a ferocious delivery from West Indies fast bowler
Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket. ...
. Marshall later found shards of the nose embedded in the ball's leather. The incident set the tone for the series as the West Indies' fearsome pace attack spearheaded England's thrashing 5–0. Another mishap for which Gatting will be remembered is being caught by Australian wicketkeeper
Greg Dyer Gregory Charles Dyer (born 16 March 1959) is a former New South Wales and Australian wicketkeeper. Dyer played in six Tests and 23 ODIs from 1986 to 1988, including playing in the victorious 1987 World Cup Final. He toured India in 1986 as a ...
, after trying to play a
reverse sweep In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...
off opposing captain
Allan Border Allan Robert Border (born 27 July 1955) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test ma ...
's first ball during the 1987 World Cup final. In 1987, Gatting gained notoriety in the "
Shakoor Rana Shakoor Rana (3 April 1936 – 9 April 2001) was a Pakistani cricketer and umpire. He stood in 18 Test matches, including one in 1987, where he was involved in a public row with England captain, Mike Gatting, that led to the match being d ...
affair" when he argued with umpire Shakoor Rana in
Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...
. He was accused of adjusting the field illegally, i.e. after the bowler had started running in, and warned. In fact, Gatting had been signalling to the long leg fielder to stop walking in, and the move was legal as it was not in the batsman's eyeline. Rana shouted 'stop, stop' and signalled dead ball, however, infuriating Gatting. Tempers were already frayed following a string of umpiring decisions that had gone against England, and the England team were unhappy that Rana was wearing a Pakistan sweater under his jacket. An on-pitch argument ensued, during the course of which Rana accused Gatting of breaking the rules and Gatting shouted 'We made the rules'. He had to be dragged away by
Bill Athey Charles William Jeffrey Athey (born 27 September 1957) is a retired English first-class cricketer, who played for England, and first-class cricket for Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and Sussex; he also played a solitary one-day game for Worcesters ...
. Rana refused to resume the match the following morning until Gatting delivered a handwritten apology, which he did under protest – eventually, the match was drawn due to bad light. The England hierarchy supported him, flying officials out to mediate with the board and deal with press relations. The Pakistan board supported Rana, naming him umpire for the deciding Test, from which position they only backed down when it was clear the England team would not play if Rana officiated, naming two other umpires. Indeed, the TCCB subsequently paid all players in the England party a £1000 'hardship' bonus for the tour. Martin Williamson, editor of Cricinfo, subsequently commented of the incident, 'Whatever the provocation, Gatting was in the wrong.' Gatting also reflected later that 'it wasn't a very proud moment of my career.' He also admitted that, whatever the official reason given, it was the real reason why he lost the England captaincy the following summer. However, it went a long way towards establishing the principle of the superiority of the umpire over the players, which had not always been the case previously, and Rana said he did it 'for umpires everywhere'. Gatting was sacked as England captain the following summer over an alleged encounter with a barmaid, triggering the "
summer of four captains The West Indian cricket team played 16 first-class cricket matches in England in 1988, under the captaincy of Viv Richards. They enjoyed considerable success during the tour, while England endured a "disastrous summer" of continuous change. En ...
". He subsequently led a highly controversial rebel tour to South Africa. Gatting hit the headlines during the tour for describing a protest outside the rebel team's hotel as "a few people singing and dancing". The rebels received three-year international bans. In June 1993, during England's first innings at
Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...
, Gatting received
Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia ...
's first delivery – now known as the "
Ball of the Century The Ball of the Century, also referred to as the Gatting Ball or simply That Ball, is a cricket delivery bowled by Australian spin bowler Shane Warne to English batter Mike Gatting on 4 June 1993, the second day of the first Test of the 1993 Ash ...
" – in an
Ashes Ashes may refer to: *Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), a ...
match. Warne pitched the ball a foot outside leg stump and spun the ball past Gatting's bat to clip the off bail. Gatting's dismissal in the second innings was also unusual, in that he was bowled off the very last ball of the fourth day's play by
Merv Hughes Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born 23 November 1961) is a former Australian cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler, he represented Australia national cricket team, Australia in 53 Test cricket, Test matches between 1985 and 1994, taking 212 wickets. He pla ...
, meaning he was unable to help England bat out the last day. Australia went on to win during the last session on that last day. Gatting's last Tests were played on tour in Australia in 1994/95.
Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, h ...
and himself were the only two members of the original touring party to be fit for all matches, although they were the two oldest in the squad. In the first innings of the Adelaide Test he scored his final century (117), a battling effort where he spent a lot of time in the nineties. His score helped England to their only win in the series. Gatting was a useful right arm medium pace bowler. He averaged under thirty with the ball in both first-class and List A cricket, but he did not bowl with great frequency in International cricket. Perhaps his finest bowling performance was against South Africa during the final
One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
of the 1989/90 rebel England tour to South Africa where his 6/26 helped England to a comfortable 134-run victory. Gatting was named as one of
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
's five
Cricketers of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...
in 1984. In 1987, he was awarded an
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
.


Retirement

He retired from first-class cricket in 1998 and has since worked as a coach and commentator. He is also a Past President of the
Lord's Taverners The Lord's Taverners is the UK's leading youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality.'. It was founded in 1950 by a group ...
for 2005–06 and the
Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
(MCC) for 2013–14. He is currently in his second term as an elected member of the MCC committee and is also a co-opted member of the Middlesex C.C.C. Executive Board. Since October 2017 he has been the chairman of MCC's World Cricket committee. Mike Gatting is not the only member of his family to have been a professional sportsman; his brother, Steve Gatting, was a professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
er for
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and
Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
. Steve's son,
Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
, played for Brighton & Hove Albion, having progressed from their youth scheme, and later played professional cricket for
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
and
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
between 2009 and 2015. He appeared as himself on ''
The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...
'' on 9 September 2007 at the centre of a misunderstanding between Sid and Jolene Perks during the npower
Village Cup Village cricket is a term, sometimes pejorative, given to the playing of cricket in rural villages in England and Wales. Many villages have their own teams that play at varying levels in local or regional club cricket leagues. When organised cric ...
Final at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
.BBC – Press Office – From The Ashes to The Archers
7 September 2007
In May 2013, it was announced that he would be the President of
Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
and helm it during bicentenary of Lord's and also Middlesex will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its formation. Gatting Way, the road in Uxbridge that leads from Park Road to the
Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground Uxbridge Cricket Ground opened in 1971. Uxbridge Cricket Club moved here after a redevelopment of Uxbridge High Street saw the club move from their Cricketfield Road ground. The present ground is situated across from Uxbridge Common on which th ...
, of which
Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...
are tenants, is named after Mike Gatting.


References


External links

*
Elected to the Middlesex County Cricket Club Executive Board 8 July 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatting, Mike 1957 births Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup England One Day International cricketers England Test cricket captains English cricket commentators English cricketers of 1969 to 2000 Living people Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Middlesex cricket captains Middlesex cricket coaches Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Kingsbury, London Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Greater London English cricketers Middlesex cricketers Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers D. B. Close's XI cricketers Young England cricketers England Test cricketers