The Rediff interview/ David Gower

'The power of the umpire should remain paramount'

English cricket has been an enigma for over a decade now. What are the problems plaguing the system?

Plenty. I think we have been slow to react to changing times. I get very jealous of the way Australia has made huge strides in the last 10-15 years. When we last beat them in 1987, they had a big rethink because it hurt them a lot. They cleared a lot of the deadwood and started the academy; they changed their entire attitude and progressed from there. And now I think we are too far adrift. People in England have been clamoring for a change for a good 20-30 years, and its only in the last two years that we have had a two-division system, which has only improved things. You wonder , if only someone had the brains and the balls to do that 10 years ago , where would we have been at this moment?

Australia has run their academy for a good ten years now, and we keep watching Aussie players arriving into the Test sides at the age of 21-22. We for our part have started so late, for results to show we have to wait another 2-5 years -- and by then, who knows where the rest of the world will be!

How would you go about revamping the county system, if you could?

The county system is self-perpetuating. And the counties as individual businesses have been very selfish. The reason they are not prepared to go ahead with the two-division system is because counties started to fear for their own existence , voting for a two-division system could for some counties be tantamount to voting their own counties into oblivion. It took a lot of argument and a lot of persuasion for change to happen, and even now, we still have 18 counties , which is way too many. There is a strong reluctance to accept that the most important thing for English cricket is the success of the English cricket team. The people running things have been very shortsighted.

Two years ago, England finally introduced the contract system for its players -- do you reckon it has helped?

I think you need the contract system, at least then you recognise who your key people are. I sat on a committee ten years ago where one of the key recommendations was that the England team be the focus of English cricket and to encourage the team members, there should be central contracts. It made sense then, it makes sense now. There will be niggles, and arguments, but you have to get the formula right and then take it from there. The concept is good, it all depends on making the right judgement calls.

Do you still fly?

( Editor's note: On a tour Down Under in 1991, David Gower and team-mate John Morris -- both, incidentally, born on All Fools' Day -- hired two Tiger Moth biplanes and flew over the ground where England was playing Queensland, and 'buzzed' the wicket.) I don’t have a license. I still have friends with planes, though. It was fun to have done that. It was an instinctive act, something that I wanted to do. The plane was there, and it was a minute away from the ground. And ironically, England was in such a good position against Queensland that I didn't think it would do much harm to borrow a plane for half an hour, it wasn't as if we were far from the ground, we were only 150 meters above it!

It was an attitude thing. And what followed was reflective of the attitude at that time. Graham Gooch and coach Mickey Stewart were very regimental in their dealings at th e time. It was a one-rule-for-all-types regime, which didn’t allow someone to have a little bit of fun.

I think they over-reacted in punishing us, and I’ve always said that. My biggest disappointment about that incident was that my form slumped. I had been playing very good cricket up until then. Whether it was psychological or not, my form was miserable in the final two Tests -- I had all sorts of personal reasons for wanting to do well and my form just went downhill. I don’t regret the incident; I just regret the lapse of form after the incident.

On a more serious note, do you think the ICC has fulfilled its role as the game's governing body?

The ICC as a body controls world cricket -- but what is more important than having a body, is having the right characters in charge, and having the right amount of strength in order to provide an even-handed control of the game around the world. As we have seen, when you have a situation where contracts are being ignored and there are disputes between boards, it looks like there are arguments between seven-year -olds on the playground , and that doesn't do the image of the ICC any good.

Take for example the fact that we are still waiting for someone to make the decision about the sixth ODI to be played between India and England. It is extraordinary that there should be this blackmail, when we have a signed piece of paper regarding the schedule.

But yet there is this playground argument as to who gets what, which sounds very childish. And that is why you need to have a framework, you need to have the ICC play the role of headmaster, take matters into its own hands, and sort everything out.

Match referees have been another sore point in recent times -- do we need them?

I don’t mind having them around. What’s important is that the power of the umpire should remain paramount. They are the men in the middle, and they should have the power to instantaneously judge the situation and control it. Good umpires can control situations; that’s the way it’s always been. The referee should be the judge to whom they can refer -- but he shouldn't be the one who steps in first.

I think the incident in South Africa was very regrettable. Yes, there were instances of behaviour which had to be dealt with; but it would have been far more effective if the process had started with the umpires.

The role of the ICC should be to work with the boards and focus on these issues, get a concensus. With so much cricket being televised all around the world, there shouldn’t really be a problem in understanding what a set standard should be like.

And finally -- what would your prescription for Indian cricket be?

For years, the Indian team has played poorly overseas and well at home. I think conditions overseas don’t suit the majority of your players. They don’t get the education to play under those conditions before they get into the Test team and play international cricket. Ideally, for the next generation of Indian players, what will be good will be for the fringe players to go overseas to Australia and England and South Africa on tours, and gain important exposure . I have always been a great advocate of the ‘A’ team theory , it is experience that is invaluable.

Part 1: 'To be out of form is a soul-destroying experience'

Interviews

Mail Cricket Editor