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England cricket fans were never able to adopt that famous chant 'Who ate
all the pies?' because everyone knew that Mike Gatting had. It was
where he got the strength to play those savage square cuts. It was
perhaps inevitable that when Gatting succeeded to the England captaincy
he would be known as 'The Fat Controller.' In India David Gower once
asked bowler Chris Cowdrey if he would like Gatting wider at slip. "If
he was any wider he'd burst" replied Cowdrey. Yet the jokes about his
appetite were just a reflection of the success Gatting brought to
English cricket: a success foolishly tossed away by England's
powers-that-be over some irrelevant tittle-tattle. For Fat Gat was the
most successful England captain in the era when World Cricket turned
totally professional. He won an Ashes series in Australia; he fought a
strong Pakistan side to a drawn series and he led England to the final
of the 1987 World Cup. Throughout that period he led the way as
England's leading run-scorer, was tactically sound and brought the best
out of some of his players who were probably county-class at best.
Gatting will be remembered for his on-field argument with umpire Shakoor
Rana at Faisalabad, but should also be remembered for returning to face
the West Indies fast bowlers after having his nose reduced to pulp by a
ball from Malcolm Marshall. He scored 207 in the Madras Test in
1984-85, 160 against Australia at Old Trafford in 1985, 183 not out
against India at Edgbaston in 1987.
In 1989 he agreed to lead the
England rebel team in South Africa and was banned from Test cricket for
three years. (Bob Harragan)Mike Gatting returned from a three year ban
for touring South Africa just in time to be bowled by Shane Warne's
'Ball of the Century' in 1993. He was recalled to Graham Gooch's England
team for the tour of India and Sri Lanka in 1992-93, his selection
ironically bringing to an end the Test career of that other member of
the Three Gs, David Gower. Gatting made 81 in Calcutta and 61 in Bombay,
being the only batsman to cope with the spinners as England struggled.
He made 59 in that Lord's Test against Australia, but was still
discarded, his discomfort at the hands of Warne being more noticable
than the runs. He returned to the fray for one last hurrah, scoring 117
in the Adelaide Test in 1994-95, by which time his whiskers were grey.
He had been put back to number three in the order following a spate of
England injuries and responded magnificently. Gatting had won a bronze
medal for ballroom dancing as a young man, and his neat footwork always
belied his stocky frame. At his best fighting weight he was 15 stone. He
played football for Edgware Town as a teenager and had a trial for
Queens Park Rangers. His brother Steve was a professional soccer player,
most notably with Arsenal. (Bob Harragan)
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