DARREN Gough would rather
England had won the
Ashes than earn
Test history with his brilliant hat-trick here.
Typically,
England's ebullient fast bowler put his team before his thrilling achievement with the first Ashes hat-trick by an
Englishman in
100 years.
Gough said afterwards: "I'd happily swap all this for England getting back those Ashes."
In a spectacular second new ball burst,
Yorkshire's favourite cricketing son pulled off every
English bowler's dream - taking a hat- trick against the Aussies.
His sense of timing couldn't have been better as no other Englishman has managed this feat in this century and there won't be another Ashes Test until the Year
2001.
He pulled it off with the fourth, fifth and sixth balls of his 17th over. His victims were
Ian Healy,
Stuart MacGill and
Colin Miller.
First, he had
Australia's wicket keeper caught behind and the next two balls were absolute corkers. The first was a yorker that ripped out MacGill's middle stump, the second, described by Gough as his "ball of the series", smashed down
Miller's off-stump.
The "
Barmy Army" went mad, singing, chanting, dancing and making fun of the
Australian supporters.
They managed to drown the noise of 50,
000 rowdy Aussie fans who had been silenced for once by
Gough's sensational bowling barrage.
Ironically, the last England bowler to bag a
Test hat-trick was the
Sunday Mirror's star cricketing columnist
Dominic Cork who was right there watching him from the dressing room.
Twelfth man Cork could not have given greater encouragement to Gough coming out with drinks when he was about to deliver the hat- trick ball.
Gough said modestly: "I'm not one of those bowlers who says he knows what he's bowling every ball. I aim to put it in the right place, and if I don't know which way it's swinging, hopefully the batsman doesn't either!
"I was bowling at the stumps and getting it to shape out for the out- swinger.
"That was the one that sealed the hat-trick. It went perfectly. It went in line with the seam, and just swung away.
"It was probably the best ball
I've bowled all series. I've been on a hat-trick a few times in
Test cricket.
"I felt I was more relaxed this time than ever before, especially seeing
Corky running out from the pavilion.
"It was terrific having Dominic's support as someone who had done it before in a Test.
"I knew what he was gonna say when he ran out
...come on, you can join the club.
"There was only one ball to go... it happened to swing out instead of in."
- published: 12 Feb 2009
- views: 95209