Editing David Gower (section)

===International career===
[[File:WCAM Tiger Moth.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Despite a prolific scoring career, Gower is often best remembered for his languid, laid-back approach both on and off the field.<ref name="cricpro"/> In 1991 he buzzed an England warm-up match with a biplane, an action for which he was reprimanded.<ref name="Gibbs, p. 133-134"/>]]
Gower was selected to play for the England Young Cricketers in 1976 against the [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]] equivalent team. Gower played one match, on 27 August, at the [[Queen's Park Oval]] in [[Port of Spain]]. Opening the batting, Gower made only 10 runs in the first innings as England were bowled out for 164; after the West Indies had made 201, he scored 49 in the second innings, stumped off a spin bowler. England were dismissed for 202, and bowled the West Indies out for 143 to take a 22-run victory.<ref name="youthtest">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36539.html|title=West Indies Young Cricketers v England Young Cricketers – England Young Cricketers in West Indies 1976 (Only Test)|publisher=CricketArchive|url-access=subscription|access-date=5 March 2009|archive-date=22 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822091805/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36539.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He made his debut in Test cricket in 1978 at [[Edgbaston Cricket Ground|Edgbaston]], scoring a boundary via a [[pull shot]] off his first delivery, bowled by Pakistan's [[Liaqat Ali (cricketer, born 1955)|Liaqat Ali]].<ref name="cricpro"/> He went on to make 58 in England's only innings, followed by 56 at [[Lord's]] and 39 at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]].<ref name="cricinn">{{cite web|url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/13418.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings|title=DI Gower – Batting analysis – Innings List|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=5 March 2009|archive-date=7 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007103804/http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/13418.html?class=1;template=results;type=batting;view=innings|url-status=live}}</ref> On 27 July, Gower played against [[New Zealand national cricket team|New Zealand]], scoring his maiden Test hundred, 111 off of 253 deliveries in the first innings, and making 11 in the second. He made scores of 46, 71 and 46 in the rest of the series, the latter including his first Test six, earning him selection for the following Ashes Tests in Australia.<ref name="cricinn"/>

{{quote box
 | quote =Gower might have been more at home in the 1920s or 1930s, cracking a dashing hundred for MCC, the darling of the crowds, before speeding away in a Bugatti and cravat for a night on the town.<ref>Hopps, p. 25.</ref>
 | source =Scyld Berry on Gower, ''[[The Observer]]'', 1984
 | width =35%
 | align =left
}}

Gower made his Ashes début at [[the Gabba]], [[Brisbane]], on 1 December 1978. He made 44 and 48* in the first Test, before making his maiden Ashes hundred, 102 from 221 balls at [[WACA Ground|Perth]]. These were to be his only significant contributions, however, and he saw out the rest of the series with scores of 29, 49, 7, 34, 9 and 21, until a meticulous 65 in the final Test at [[Sydney]].<ref name="cricinn"/> He then faced four Test matches against India over the summer of 1979, beginning the series with a fast-paced 200* at Edgbaston, followed by an 82 at Lord's. Ducks at Leeds and [[The Oval]] followed, however, and he struggled against Australia in the winter of 1979 with 17, 23 and three. A battling 98* at Sydney was again followed by another duck and 11 as Gower's form deserted him. After 16 against India in February 1980, and 20 and one against the West Indies, his form picked up marginally with scores of 45, 35 and 48 against Australia and the West Indies. One more fifty followed at [[Kensington Oval|Bridgetown]]; however, he eventually broke the run of poor form with a hard-fought 154* from 403 deliveries at [[Sabina Park|Kingston]].<ref name="cricinn"/>

[[File:Trent Bridge Test Match, 1981- Alderman to Gower (geograph 2489133).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Gower batting for England in a Test match at [[Trent Bridge]] in 1981. [[Terry Alderman]] is bowling, with [[Ian Botham]] at the bowler's end. There are four slips and two gulleys fielding to the left of [[Rod Marsh]]. Despite one score of 89 during the series, Gower had failed to consistently perform, and thus the Australian team set this very attacking field.]]

Gower's timely revival of form ensured his selection for the [[1981 Ashes series]]; however, apart from an 89 at Lord's, Gower failed to convert the success he was having in the domestic game to the Test matches, with many scores in the twenties or lower.<ref name="youthtest"/> Two scores in the eighties against India, one against Sri Lanka and two seventies against Pakistan over the winter of 1981/82 kept in him contention for an international place, but centuries were lacking in his game. In August 1982, however, Australia received the England touring team at Perth, where Gower made 72 and 28. He followed this with 18, 34 and 60 at Brisbane and [[Adelaide Oval|Adelaide]] before a compact 114 in the second innings of the Adelaide match revived his hundred count.<ref name="youthtest"/> Two more hundreds in the summer of 1983 against New Zealand, and knocks of 152 and 173* against Pakistan in 1984 ensured his place in the side.<ref name="youthtest"/>

Following his 173* in the last Test against Pakistan, Gower suffered another drop in form, managing only three fifties in the next 18 Test innings against the West Indies, Sri Lanka and India. In 1985, however, after low scores at Leeds, Gower enjoyed a "golden season" in the [[1985 Ashes]].<ref name="mh36"/> He scored 86 and 22 at Lord's against Australia, and 166 at [[Trent Bridge]]. Following this, he scored 47 at [[Old Trafford Cricket Ground|Old Trafford]], and then at Edgbaston on 15 August, scored 215 from 314 balls, his career-best score, and immediately followed this with 157 at The Oval.<ref name="youthtest"/> In addition, he forged two partnerships over 300 runs, with 331 scored with [[Tim Robinson (English cricketer)|Tim Robinson]] (148) during Gower's own double-century, and 351 with Gooch's 196 at The Oval.<ref name="mh36"/> He ended the series with 732 runs at 81.33, leading England to a 3–1 victory.

Gower struggled in 1986. His mother had died a week before he left to captain the [[English cricket team in the West Indies in 1985–86|England tour to the West Indies]] which ended in a 5–0 defeat (Gower's second at their hands). Back in England against India, Gower lost the captaincy after two Tests both of which were lost. Retained as a senior player for the New Zealand series and the subsequent Ashes tour, his fortunes began to turn in December with 136 against Australia at Perth.

In 1987 Gower declined to play in that year's [[1987 Cricket World Cup|Cricket World Cup]] for he did not wish to travel, having been on nine successive winter tours since his debut. He never again declined an opportunity to play for England; yet, in 1989, rumours that Gower lacked serious commitment gained currency when, as England captain, he walked out of a press conference claiming he had tickets for the theatre.<ref name="mw">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/243636.html|title=Dropping the pilot... from a great height|last=Williamson|first=Martin|date=8 April 2006|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=5 March 2009|archive-date=6 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106054514/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/243636.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

More controversially, during the [[1990–91 Ashes Tour]] in Australia, England were playing a warm up match in [[Queensland]] when Gower, together with batsman [[John Morris (cricketer, born 1964)|John Morris]], chose to go for a joy-ride in two [[De Havilland Tiger Moth|Tiger Moth]] biplanes without telling the England team management.<ref name="mw2">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/232946.html|title=When Gower's tour took off|last=Williamson|first=Martin|date=14 January 2006|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=5 March 2009|archive-date=13 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113202611/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/232946.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Both had been dismissed earlier that day, and they decided not to remain at the ground to "watch [[Allan Lamb]] and [[Robin Smith (cricketer)|Robin Smith]] flat the Queensland attack before a small crowd".<ref name="g130">Gibbs, p. 130.</ref> For this Gower was fined £1000, a penalty that could have been steeper had he released the water bombs he had also prepared.<ref name="g132">Gibbs, p. 132.</ref> He also posed for press photographs with the plane the next day.

Gooch was enraged, as he was by Gower's mode of dismissal at a crucial stage of one of the Test matches. During the fourth Test at Adelaide, Gower walked out to the crease to the tune of ''[[Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines]]''.<ref name="Gibbs, p. 133-134">Gibbs, p. 133-134.</ref> The last ball before lunch was bowled down the leg side to a leg trap, and all Gower needed to do was block. However, Gower flicked idly at the delivery and was caught at leg-slip. According to [[Mike Atherton]] in his autobiography, "Gooch was at the other end and as he walked off his face was thunderous". This was another example of the strained relationship between the two. His score of nought in the second innings at Melbourne in 1991, when England were chasing quick runs for victory, ended his world record, unbroken sequence, of 119 Test innings without registering a duck.<ref name="Beard"/> Gower scored 73 and 31* in the following matches against Pakistan; however, on 9 August 1992 he was dismissed for one by [[Waqar Younis]] in what would be his last Test match, at The Oval.<ref name="august9">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/124826.html|title=Last day for a languid hero|date=9 August 2003|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=3 April 2009|archive-date=31 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231071929/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/124826.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is often thought that Gooch was instrumental in Gower being omitted from the subsequent tour of India.<ref name="cricpro"/><ref name="Gibbs, p. 133-134"/> The selection decision prompted a vote of no confidence in the selectors at the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC), but it was to no avail as Gower was not included.<ref name="g135">Gibbs, p. 135.</ref> In response to Gooch's perceived regime of hard work over talent, Gower retired from international cricket in early 1993.<ref name="cricpro"/><ref name="Gibbs, p. 133-134"/>