Gough's century ambition

Darren Gough's ambition and passion for Yorkshire remain as strong as ever at 36

Darren Gough’s CV takes some beating. The best England bowler of his generation, Yorkshire legend and the original cricketing Fred Astaire of reality TV, his achievements are such that he has long since been assured of a prominent place in the game's history.

But Gough is intent on leaving a legacy at Headingley Carnegie that will still be felt a century down the line.

His mission, as captain of Yorkshire, extends beyond winning the LV County Championship this season, a feat which appears well within his grasp if he side continue the form that has taken them to the top of Division One.

Indeed, one gets the impression, when speaking to Gough, that what happens over the next three months is little more than incidental to his grand plan: to ensure Yorkshire remain at the pinnacle of the county game long after he has watched his last match.

“I’m a proud Yorkshire boy,” he told ecb.co.uk. “I’m passionate - I want Yorkshire to be successful not only in while I’m here, but over the next 50 years, 100 years.

Gough is eyeing a successful club beyond his playing days

“It’s no good saying we’re a great side at the minute but then in five years we might not be. We’ve got to prepare now for five years’ time, and even further than that. You need a plan for the future.”

Reticence has never been one of Gough’s stronger traits, but there is a sense that this is more than hyperbole.

It should come as little surprise that a man of such fierce ambition and passion wants to ensure the club he holds so close to his heart remains the most famous in the world.

But what may shock some observers, whose perceptions of Gough have been moulded by the oft-portrayed - and unfair - image of a jack-the-lad lacking in intellectual substance, is the depth of planning that has gone on.

“We’re looking ahead to when I retire, so that we’ve got three players who will all fill my position,” said Gough.

“The same goes for all the positions, from number one to 11. We want to have four players in each position - a 1st team player, a 2nd team player, an Academy player and schools cricketer - all ready to take the next step up.

Gough shows his tender side with youngster Adil Rashid

“We’ve got a decent squad, with a lot of youngsters and a lot of talent, and we’ve got a coaching system in place where we’re trying to create our own coaches as well. The aim is to get a conveyor belt of players and coaches coming through all the time.”

Gough, whose first act upon returning to Yorkshire this season, was to “get rid of all the rules”, has spent much time alongside director of cricket Martyn Moxon fostering a greater sense of togetherness at the club.

The more promising second XI players have been blooded in one-day cricket, while others accompany the first team squad to away matches on a rotation basis.

Gough added: “The communication between the first team and second team, which they said was lacking before I came, has been excellent.

“They see how we play our cricket, how positive we are and how much we enjoy it, so when they go back to the seconds they know which road we’re going down. They all know we’re reading from the same book.

The former England bowler commands instant respect

“I wouldn’t think many counties do that sort of thing, but I want to do it. There’s no point the first team doing one thing and the second team doing another.”

It seems impossible to think that a young cricketer could fail to be inspired by Gough, whose ascent to the top of the game - he stands ninth in the all-time list of Test wicket-takers for England with 229 - came during 15 glorious years at Headingley which preceded his three-year spell with Essex.

“Yorkshire signed me again for a reason - they knew I had the respect of the players because of what I’ve done on the international front and at Yorkshire,” said Gough, who turns 37 in the last week of the season.

“I spoke to all the players before I started and they said they’d not been enjoying their cricket. A lot had left or wanted to leave, so the first thing I wanted to do was bring some enjoyment back.

“Yorkshire knew what sort of person I was and the way I played the game - and they thought I was the right man to do that.”

You need spend only a matter of minutes in Gough’s company to see why.