Gough gives his seal of approval

By Aaron Scoones

Darren Gough. (0235355)

THIS week’s Guernsey Under-13 Festival has had a special spectator.
Former England fast bowler Darren Gough has been at the KGV watching his son Liam play for Buckinghamshire.
It was his first time on the island.
‘I’ve always wanted to come here,’ said Gough.
‘I’ve been here a couple of days and it’s really nice. I’ve really enjoyed myself.’
The 37-year-old represented England in 58 Tests between 1994 and 2003, taking 229 wickets.
He also featured in 159 one-day internationals, claiming 235 victims.
A bubbly personality, he also won the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
He is now back captaining at Yorkshire, his county of birth, after a three-year stint at Essex.
He paid credit to the cricket set-up in Guernsey and especially the KGV where he spent two days supporting his son.
‘I’m really impressed by it all,’ Gough said.
‘The barman – Bolton Tony – has looked us after really well.
‘Everyone is really nice. The only bad thing are the roads. They’re too small.’
Gough flew to Southampton on Tuesday evening to play against Hampshire in a four-day Championship match starting yesterday.
‘If I don’t play against Hampshire I may fly back,’ he said, before he left.
Gough has been in the news this week with his comments regarding Michael Vaughan’s resignation as the England captain on Sunday.
Vaughan failed to score enough runs this summer as England lost their test series with South Africa.
Kevin Pietersen was named as the new skipper on Monday.
Gough had gone on the record to say that Vaughan was premature with his decision.
‘I think Vaughan is an excellent leader and he’s only one innings away from getting back to form,’ he said. ‘I wish him all the best and he can hold his head high.
‘I’m best mates with Kevin and I was his best man at his wedding.
‘He will be a good leader, but he’s not really been a captain before. But he’ll do a good job.’
Gough was also impressed with Buckinghamshire’s performance against Dorset on Tuesday.
They had looked in trouble after being bowled out for just 98 runs.
But on a tricky KGV pitch, it was father-like-son as Gough junior led the Bucks attack to dismiss Dorset for 79.
‘Dorset are a good side and they [Buckinghamshire] have done really well to win,’ he said.
Gough was one of the 50-odd mums and dads watching the game.
Guernsey and Oxfordshire were involved in the festival and were playing each other at the College Field which also had a large number of support
After starting last year, the festival has proven to be highly popular.
Phil Slatter, the Oxford coach whose side defeated Guernsey, explained why.
All of the Oxford squad apart from one player had brought their family with them.
‘It’s absolutely fantastic,’ he said. ‘It’s well organised, you get very well looked after, the people of Guernsey are great and all of our families are loving it. This is a really good set up.
‘This is our first time here and we are really, really enjoying it.’
Festival organiser Jason Shambrook who is the island’s cricket development officer hopes that it will expand to six teams next year.
‘It’s great for tourism as we’ve got a lot of people come over and they are all staying in hotels and eating out at night,’ he said.
‘And it’s important that we keep finding quality opposition for all of our age groups.’