The Googly

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 17: Joseph Stalin

You can say what you like about Joe Stalin, but as a leader he certainly knew what he wanted and tended to get it most of the time; not unlike our Graham.  As captain of England, Gooch certainly knew what elements his didn't want in his inner sanctum.  Luckily for the likes of David Gower, Gooch did not have the power to send those out of favour to a Siberian salt mine.   They tended to get jobs at Sky instead.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 16: John Wilkes Booth

Our great quest continues as we journey into the past with one of the most notorious men in American history.  No, not OJ Simpson, John Wilkes Booth.

Not only do this fella and the mighty Gooch share a passing resemblance they also share a questionable race relations record.  Graham famously went on a rebel tour to SA, in the process getting himself banned from playing cricket for England.  Booth didn't like the idea of ending slavery so shot Abraham Lincoln and ended up being killed himself in a farmhouse a couple of weeks later.

See, like peas in a pod!

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 15: Nigel Mansell

What is it about men with moustaches?

If they are not boring you rigid about something in the pub, then they are usually achieving global stardom in their chosen field; like this man here.  Nigel Mansell is quite possibly the dullest person to ever be a successful racing driver.

Goochy probably has a competition on his hands to claim that title in the opening batsman stakes though to be fair.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 14: Freddie Mercury

I was just a skinny lad,
Never knew no good from bad.
But I knew life before
I left my nursery, huh!
Left alone with big fat Goochy,
He was such a naughty cricky,
Hey big batter!
You made a fat-boy outta me..
(sorry)

Men who sound like Graham Gooch

I know this is a bit off the thread, but there's mileage to be found in the Sound-a-likes. Today I was listening to the BBC's R5Live, as usual, and heard an interview with the football referee Graham Poll. It took a few minutes to get my ears and head around this, as I could have sworn it was Graham Gooch.

Is there something about being a Graham?

[Image: Getty]

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 13: David Seaman

Another corking Goochalike from Richard O'Hagan this week, as he rightly spotted that ex-Arsenal and England goalkeeper David "Seamo" Seaman is a dead ringer, particularly in this snap from his late-80s QPR days.

Gooch has many other things in common with Seamo as well: divorce, questionable relationship with team-mates, and the tendency to watch the ball sailing past him in crucial matches.
[Image: Getty]

The mystery that is Graham Gooch

We've had a few laughs this summer at the expense of Graham Gooch but as I am reminiscing about heroes of the 80s and 90s, let's pay some respect to a real maverick of the game.

Bizarrely for a man who became the most prolific scorer cricket has ever seen, Gooch's debut against Australia in 1975 was notable only for the "pair" - a performance remembered by others on the Googly team though not myself. I remember him more for the 1981 rebel tour of South Africa - and the subsequent three year ban. Without that (and I don't think Graham has ever really explained why he led that tour), his official figures would be even more astounding.

A right-hand bat, he scored 8900 runs in Test cricket and 4290 in One-day internationals. If you add in his first-class county career at Essex, his total leaps to an astonishing total of over 21,000 runs in the One-day game and nearly 45,000 first-class runs. It is no surprise that he has been described as one of the best belters of a cricket ball that has ever played the game.

It has been said that in 1988 he was given the England captaincy because "there was no-one else" but that rather belittles the discipline he brought to the side. He raised the bar as far as physical fitness and the work ethic were concerned and led the way for captains Atherton and Vaughan. Playing at the highest level until his retirement in 1995 (aged 41), he remains England's all-time highest scorer. Often at odds with England management, it was perhaps no surprise that a post-retirement role as a coach and selector did not pay dividends. Fortunately, for fans, Gooch has not left the field of play and remains as a broadcaster - often providing the levity and wit that is so much needed when matches slip into their slow, dull stages.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 12: Brandon Flowers

Your Goochalikes keep coming in, and thanks once again this week to Richard O'Hagan for suggesting the lead singer of The Killers and all-round good mormon boy Brandon Flowers.

Despite being a cheery Mr Brightside on TMS since he retired, during his playing days I would often will Gooch to Smile Like You Mean It, also Somebody Told Me that he often felt a loss in his Bones. 

(Can you see what I did there?)

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 11: Pringles bloke

Many thanks to Googly fan and member of our wonderful Facebook group Richard O'Hagan for sending us this cracker for this week's Goochalike.

"Once you pop, you can't stop" they say about Pringles, and Goochie was much like that: playing on and on and on before finally retiring at the age of 78 to send us all to sleep on TMS.

Once again this blog is first with the cricket reportage that really matters!

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 10: Peter Bowles

Peter Bowles is the English actor who is perhaps most famous for portraying upper-class characters often caught in hilarious situations, such as being in hospital in Only When I Laugh. Oh my sides!

Graham Gooch, of course, once found himself in the hilarious situation of being England captain when absolutely no-one really wanted him to be, even his team mates.  He is in no way upper class though.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 15: Nigel Mansell

What is it about men with moustaches?

If they are not boring you rigid about something in the pub, then they are usually achieving global stardom in their chosen field; like this man here.  Nigel Mansell is quite possibly the dullest person to ever be a successful racing driver.

Goochy probably has a competition on his hands to claim that title in the opening batsman stakes though to be fair.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 14: Freddie Mercury

I was just a skinny lad,
Never knew no good from bad.
But I knew life before
I left my nursery, huh!
Left alone with big fat Goochy,
He was such a naughty cricky,
Hey big batter!
You made a fat-boy outta me..
(sorry)

Men who sound like Graham Gooch

I know this is a bit off the thread, but there's mileage to be found in the Sound-a-likes. Today I was listening to the BBC's R5Live, as usual, and heard an interview with the football referee Graham Poll. It took a few minutes to get my ears and head around this, as I could have sworn it was Graham Gooch.

Is there something about being a Graham?

[Image: Getty]

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 13: David Seaman

Another corking Goochalike from Richard O'Hagan this week, as he rightly spotted that ex-Arsenal and England goalkeeper David "Seamo" Seaman is a dead ringer, particularly in this snap from his late-80s QPR days.

Gooch has many other things in common with Seamo as well: divorce, questionable relationship with team-mates, and the tendency to watch the ball sailing past him in crucial matches.
[Image: Getty]

The mystery that is Graham Gooch

We've had a few laughs this summer at the expense of Graham Gooch but as I am reminiscing about heroes of the 80s and 90s, let's pay some respect to a real maverick of the game.

Bizarrely for a man who became the most prolific scorer cricket has ever seen, Gooch's debut against Australia in 1975 was notable only for the "pair" - a performance remembered by others on the Googly team though not myself. I remember him more for the 1981 rebel tour of South Africa - and the subsequent three year ban. Without that (and I don't think Graham has ever really explained why he led that tour), his official figures would be even more astounding.

A right-hand bat, he scored 8900 runs in Test cricket and 4290 in One-day internationals. If you add in his first-class county career at Essex, his total leaps to an astonishing total of over 21,000 runs in the One-day game and nearly 45,000 first-class runs. It is no surprise that he has been described as one of the best belters of a cricket ball that has ever played the game.

It has been said that in 1988 he was given the England captaincy because "there was no-one else" but that rather belittles the discipline he brought to the side. He raised the bar as far as physical fitness and the work ethic were concerned and led the way for captains Atherton and Vaughan. Playing at the highest level until his retirement in 1995 (aged 41), he remains England's all-time highest scorer. Often at odds with England management, it was perhaps no surprise that a post-retirement role as a coach and selector did not pay dividends. Fortunately, for fans, Gooch has not left the field of play and remains as a broadcaster - often providing the levity and wit that is so much needed when matches slip into their slow, dull stages.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 12: Brandon Flowers

Your Goochalikes keep coming in, and thanks once again this week to Richard O'Hagan for suggesting the lead singer of The Killers and all-round good mormon boy Brandon Flowers.

Despite being a cheery Mr Brightside on TMS since he retired, during his playing days I would often will Gooch to Smile Like You Mean It, also Somebody Told Me that he often felt a loss in his Bones. 

(Can you see what I did there?)

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 11: Pringles bloke

Many thanks to Googly fan and member of our wonderful Facebook group Richard O'Hagan for sending us this cracker for this week's Goochalike.

"Once you pop, you can't stop" they say about Pringles, and Goochie was much like that: playing on and on and on before finally retiring at the age of 78 to send us all to sleep on TMS.

Once again this blog is first with the cricket reportage that really matters!

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 10: Peter Bowles

Peter Bowles is the English actor who is perhaps most famous for portraying upper-class characters often caught in hilarious situations, such as being in hospital in Only When I Laugh. Oh my sides!

Graham Gooch, of course, once found himself in the hilarious situation of being England captain when absolutely no-one really wanted him to be, even his team mates.  He is in no way upper class though.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 9: Video Special!!

An homage to the moustache by many, many people.  Even a cat with one at about the one minute mark!

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 8: Burt Reynolds

There are a lot of things you don't see any more: Test matches with a 2.5 per over run rate; Simon Jones; decent programmes on ITV; and, perhaps most lamentably, pictures of moustachiod film stars naked on a bearskin rug. The Googly is hoping to redress the balance with this week's Goochalike.

The Googly and its parent Shiny Media apologies to anyone who may have been eating while reading this post.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 7: King C. Gillette

King C Gillette was the man who founded the Gillette razor company, and thus paved the way for imbecilic people to be sucked in by them and their ever-expanding blade numbers ever since.   Their latest one has six bloody blades.  Six!

However, his company probably had more of an effect on cricket than you might realise.  It was of course Gillette that were the initial sponsors of what is now the Friends Provident Trophy, which paved the way for one-day cricket tournaments in England and ultimately led to Twenty20.

Also, he invented the "razors and blades" business model, in which he sold the razor to you at a loss and then rear-ended you by overcharging for the blades. This is the same model used by Sky TV when they give you a set-top box and dish for nothing and then fleece you for the rest of eternity with subscriptions to their channels; and it is this very model that allowed Sky to basically buy the game in the UK.

You see, you don't get tenuous and unconvincing links between Victorian razor manufacturers and cricket such as this on rival sites do you?

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 6: Allen Stanford

Allen Stanford, the man who has used his own money to start a Twenty20 league in the Caribbean and thus benevolently foster the development of young West Indies players is also a dead ringer for our Graham.

Graham has not used his money to create a cricket league for the betterment of a nation, but he is closely involved with the coaching of Alastair Cook, so we can't have a go at him too much.

That can wait until next week.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 5: Lord Kitchener

Gooch's latest doppelganger is the man who could be held responsible for the deaths of thousands of young British men, something which as far as I am aware Gooch himself has never been accused of.

Of course if that was Gooch on the poster it would actually read, "Your Country Needs YOU!  Yes you Graeme Fowler, as I'm off to South Africa to line my pockets on an immoral rebel tour!"

Don't forget to send in your nominations folks.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 4: Lord Lucan

Lord Lucan's mysterious disappearance occured around about the time Graham Gooch began his first-class career.  Coincidence?  I think perhaps not..

Keep your nominations for Men Who Look LIke Graham Gooch coming in.

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No 3: random mad moustache man

This may be what Gooch would look like if he went Howard Hughes level bonkers and never trimmed his 'tache.  As Nesta said when referring this wonderful subject to me, "This guy looks like he's signalling a wide with that mo'".

Don't forget to send your nominations in to this address, with a picture if they're a random looney like this one. [lee c]

Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch, No.2: Emiliano Zapata

Graham Gooch led a revolution of sorts. 

In batting he was one of the first men to use an incredibly heavy bat, he also stuck his arse out further than anyone in history during his backlift. 

Zapata, by contrast, led an actual, proper revolution in Mexico in which he led the Liberation Army of the South - not to be confused with Essex CCC.

Remember we want your help in our quest to find Men Who Look Like Graham Gooch.  Leave your entries in the comments, or if it is someone you know, or even someone you covertly snapped on the street, send details and a picture to this email address.

Men who look like Graham Gooch - the quest begins!

The Googly is on a quest to find men from all over the world who look like Graham Gooch.  The reason?  We don't have one, it simply seems like something to do that might amuse us for a while, and that is good enough for us. And we need your help, so please send in your nominations.

It can be anybody: someone famous; yourself; your dad; a mate; your uncle; or if you are really unlucky, your wife.  Be sure to send in a picture if it isn't someone famous so that you and they can see themselves plastered over a cricket blog for our amusement.  Send in your nominations to this email address. 

Follow the cut to see this week's Man Who Looks Like Graham Gooch!

It's Magnum PI star and former love interest of the dark haired one in Friends, Tom Selleck.  This you can do better? Get emailing, or leave a nomination in the comments.