Sports SpeakersDarren Gough MBE is a former England Cricketer, broadcaster, and entertaining guest speaker.
He’s one of those cricketers who can lift a crowd and a nation!
Whether he was limbering up to start a sizzling spell of fast bowling or striding out to bat, a buzz of excitement swept around the ground.
As England’s premier strike bowler, Darren Gough was often the team’s inspiration and talisman.
He had heart and determination, but his game also showed guile and intelligence.
Lacking the height of a traditional pace bowler, Gough found other ways to dismiss batsmen.
He became England’s first and foremost exponent of reverse swing, which, combined with subtle changes of pace and seam movement, earned him 229 wickets in 58 Tests.
Memorable highlights of his Test career include ripping through the Australian batting in his first Ashes Test and, again against Australia in Sydney in 1999, taking a hat-trick.
No one contributed more to England’s historic series win over West Indies in 2000, a performance which saw Darren Gough named ‘man of the series’. His partnership with Andy Caddick is widely recognised as a key factor in England’s renaissance at the time.
Darren Gough played his last Test in 2003, but remained a fiery presence in one-day internationals until 2006. He is the leading English One Day International wicket-taker.
By this time, of course, Darren had also made quite an impact on the dance floor in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. As with the Test Match crowds before, the TV audience immediately took to his ebullient character and neat footwork.
He and his partner, Lilia Kopylova, were crowned 2005 champions and later won the 2007 Christmas Special!
Following his 2005 win on ‘Strictly’, he released the dance book ‘Dazzler on the Dance Floor’ through Hodder & Stoughton.
He returned to Yorkshire for the 2007 season as captain and produced some of his best bowling figures over the next 10 years.
After hosting his successful radio show, Darren Gough’s Cricket Night, on BBC Radio 5 Live, in 2009, Darren joined Talksport radio.
