We let Australia down: Ian Gould

Cape Town umpire Ian Gould says Australia should have been nailed for their behaviour three years before sandpapergate.

Umpire Ian Gould says he still has the ball from the infamous Cape Town Test match two years ago Picture: Michael Klein

Ian Gould was the man at the centre of the storm that became known as sandpapergate.

As the third umpire during the now-infamous third Test between South Africa and Australia in 2018, it was the man they call “Gunner” who pulled the trigger on one of cricket’s biggest scandals.

Indeed, for a man who shuns the limelight and insists he prefers chatting about horse racing, he has been involved in some of cricket’s most memorable moments. Just as well he has written them all down in his book Gunner: My Life in Cricket.

The revelations are manifold, from his early start as a goalkeeper at Arsenal - hence the nickname - to a nervous breakdown in 2016 and, finally, the perfect sign-off with his retirement after the Cricket World Cup on home soil last year.

But the real meat is undoubtedly focused on that Test match at Newlands two years ago. Gould gives fascinating details about the events leading up to and during that series in which his umpiring colleague Chris Gaffaney, who was standing in the first two Tests, had warned Gould via a text message that things were “getting out of hand”.

Gould spares no detail. The events on the pitch and the collaboration with TV producers are laid out in full, as are the discussions that took place between the officials, the ICC, the teams and the players.

Just as interesting is the aftermath, Gould standing in the middle for the fourth Test - the match after Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft had been sent home and subsequently banned - “the weirdest Test I have ever been involved in. It was like umpiring a school match. Everyone was hilariously quiet, no one sledged and no decisions were challenged.”

It says something about Gould’s quirky personality that he still has all the balls from that Test in a vault for safekeeping.

“I wonder if anyone will ever ask for them back” he says.

But Gould is also happy to take his fair share of the blame for the scandal. Officials should have taken action “two or three years prior to the scandal”, he says. “I believe Australia were out of control leading up to the ball-tampering issues.

“Deep down, we (umpires) let them down in that we should have nailed them three years previously but we let it go, let it go, let it go and it just exploded. We have to remember it’s an adult game, there are going to be moments where people lose the plot. The line that couldn’t be crossed was when people’s families were brought into it or it was personal.”

There has been much more to Gould’s career, though. From his early days growing up near Slough, west of London, where football was his premier passion and he played alongside the future Chelsea and QPR striker Alan Wilks. But cricket was always there, first at Slough Cricket Club and then with MCC, where he spent his summers bowling at the members or the Middlesex players; his winters were spent between the posts for Arsenal, where he was a goalkeeper in the reserves.

“Highbury was the place to be for me,” he says. “Everyone was the same, it didn’t matter whether you were Bob Wilson or Ian Gould. I was so privileged being at Lord’s and Highbury.” It was cricket that took preference and he went on to play 298 first-class matches for Middlesex and Sussex. He even played 18 one-day internationals for England in 1983, including that year’s World Cup. That was followed by a ten-year stint as Middlesex coach.

He then set up a grass-cutting business having no idea what he wanted to do after cricket, but umpiring came along and it is that for which he is best known. Players find him jovial and approachable, and managing personalities is one of the things he found most important. Gould’s international umpiring career began in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies and he stood in his first Test match in 2008.

“It has been a privilege,” he says. “The little kid from Slough watching the best of the best play. It is incredible how good they are, you get to know them. I found it fascinating.”

Perhaps most admirable of all is the chapter in his book devoted to his mental-health struggles in 2016, when he was forced to take some time away from the game because of burnout.

“I realise now I was having a breakdown,” he admits. “I fell out of love with the game, with everything actually. I didn’t want to know anyone, including my family. I was walking through Hove one day and I was ducking away from people I bumped into who I knew.

“If I can stop anyone from going through what I went through, I will. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Thankfully there was so much support - I had Denis Burns, Michael Caulfield and Chris Kelly at the ECB, who turned me round within six weeks by letting me get it all out of my system. I stopped drinking so much, I was walking a lot, I was chatting to people again, but I won’t ever forget how awful it was.”

Gould remains on the ECB’s county umpiring panel and, soon enough, he’ll be striding out to the middle, joking with the players as he goes.

Gunner: My Life in Cricket by Ian Gould, published by Pitch

The Times