Gooch praises Leicestershire

England legend Graham Gooch OBE praised Leicestershire’s youth policy and batsman James Taylor during an entertaining talk at the Leicestershire Cricket Society last night.

Gooch, who is England’s all-time leading test match run scorer with 8,900 to his name, delighted a sizeable crowd in the Charles Palmer Suite with funny anecdotes about his outstanding career and also took time to speak about Leicestershire.

The former Essex and England opening batsman came across Taylor last season and got a closer look at the youngster during the recent England Performance Programme in South Africa.

He was impressed with the way the 20-year-old carried out his work in Pretoria and that added to the impression he formed last season from seeing him at the crease.

Taylor certainly excelled against Essex in both Championship matches during the 2009 campaign.

At Grace Road, he nearly got to a century after being in the forties when last man Harry Gurney came to the crease, and in the return fixture, Taylor made a hundred in the first dig and became the youngest Leicestershire batsman to reach 1,000 Championship runs in the second.

Gooch was clearly impressed and said: “I had a bit of exposure to James Taylor in South Africa as I was out there coaching on the England tour. He and Michael Carberry were the most impressive batsmen I saw on the programme.

“He certainly played very well against Essex last year. As a young guy, he not only has lots of talent and a wide variety of shots, but he also knows what he wants and how to get it. He knows where he is going and how to get there.

“Next year will be tough for him being the second season as people will have seen him and got to know him last year. People will have ideas of how to bowl at him.

“However, he is strong and skilful enough and will improve as he gets more experienced. He is also going on the England Lions tour, which will help.”

The 56-year-old joked that it will be interesting to see the batsman at the wicket with new signing Will Jefferson, who Gooch knows well from his time at Essex.

Gooch, who made almost 45,000 first-class runs during a prolific career, clearly rates Jefferson and has backed him to do well at Grace Road.

“It will certainly be interesting to see James bat with Will Jefferson – they’ll both get bad necks!” he said.

“I know Will from being his coach at Essex. I would describe him as an unfulfilled talent to an extent – but he is very talented.

“Tim Boon knows him well and if he can get the best out of him, Leicestershire will have a very talented player on their hands. He can go out and dictate terms up front. If he is in good form he is very hard to bowl at – he’ll be driving balls that I’d have been pulling!

“I think a batsman’s best years are between 25 and 35. That period between your late 20s and mid 30s are where you should have learnt your trade and are ready to cash in. Will certainly has a lot left in him.”

As well as talking about the art of batting, Gooch also spoke about captaincy – a role which will be new to Matthew Hoggard this season.

The former opening batsman certainly speaks from experience having led his club and country on countless occasions and thinks Hoggard will enjoy the new challenge.

He said: “Matthew Hoggard is an experienced bowler and swings the ball nicely. The most important thing about being captain is leading from the front and looking after your own performance.

“Matthew is a high-quality performer and will lead from the front with wickets. The young lads will be able to learn from him and feed into that.

“Often as captain the best part is crossing the white line; the difficulty comes with all that you have to deal with off the pitch. In my experience, that includes all the Committee meetings and dealing with the issues of players – you have to be a counsellor as well at times.

“But when you get out onto the field, that is the best part. The captain’s role is still the most important role in cricket and the good thing is that you can play the game at your pace and dictate how you want to play. You set your own fields and set the tone.

“I came to learn that you also have an added opportunity to stamp your mark on the game early when you are an opening batsman – that will be the same for Matthew in reverse – you haven’t signed him for his batting, after all,” he smiled.

“Ian Botham wanted to lead from the front as an opening bowler and Matthew will want to do the same here. He knows the game and knows how to take wickets on different surfaces. I’m sure he’ll do well and be a positive role model for the young side here.”

Gooch continued with his stories from the past and ended with praise for Leicestershire’s Selection and Recruitment Policy which has been implemented by CEO David Smith and Senior Coach Tim Boon, who also addressed the meeting.

“I am really pleased to see the youth policy at Leicestershire,” Gooch said. “I think it’s good for English cricket and it has to be the right way to go. It’s the way we need cricket to go in England.

“It’s also good to see such a sizeable crowd here. People clearly care about their club at Grace Road and I hope that you have a good season.

“Tim is a very committed and determined coach and I hope he and Leicestershire have a very successful season and times ahead. I wish you well.”

Chairman Howard Pollard, Secretary Mike Siddall and Publicity Officer Phil Veasey then thanked Gooch for his time, and the next Society meeting will be on Thursday, March 4, when author Grahame Lloyd and former Glamorgan cricketer Roger Davies talk through the story behind Sir Garfield Sobers’ six sixes.

The evening will again start at 7.30pm in the Charles Palmer Suite. The Society added that there will be an extra meeting to add to the programme on Monday, April 19, when Boon will be joined alongside Hoggard and Jefferson for a Q&A Session.

For more information about joining the Society, please visit www.lcs.councilcricketsocieties.com.

* The raffle at last night's meeting helped to raise £260 for Leicestershire CCC's Academy. Many thanks to all those who bought tickets.