In a free-wheeling chat, Gower, now an acclaimed anchor and commentator for Sky Sports spoke primarily about blending aesthetics with effectiveness.

Remembering David Gower from his playing days is like thinking about first love. There was beauty, joy, a surreal air and in the end, poignancy too as one of the most elegant southpaws retired in 1993.
Yes, there is Brian Lara, but for a generation of fans, who owe allegiance to the 1980s, if there was an equivalent of a thing of beauty being a joy forever among left-handed batsmen, it had to be Gower.
In a free-wheeling chat, Gower, now an acclaimed anchor and commentator for Sky Sports spoke primarily about blending aesthetics with effectiveness.
Excerpts:
The perception-burden of left-handers being intrinsically elegant:
There are ugly left-handers and one I can think of with the greatest of respect was Allan Border, who made thousands of Test runs and proved to be a very good player. You wouldn’t call him elegant and he wouldn’t mind because he would much rather take 11000 Test runs.
Yes in terms of left-handers, for me it was always pleasant when people said that there was elegance and style but then none of that works unless you get runs and spend 10 to 15 years playing Test cricket. For me to walk out to bat at the Lord’s, the Oval, the Eden Gardens, the SCG, wherever it might be, I am not thinking hope this looks good, I am thinking hope I get some runs.
The thin line that splits style from being branded lazy:
The natural flow of emotion if you get out is a degree of disappointment. It could be the bowler bowling a good ball but whatever it is, you are an unhappy man. If you are then accused of being lazy, you are thinking ‘well not really, I was trying’. When you are accused of being laid-back, it implies that there is a lack of care or desire and all I am prepared to admit is that there were good days and bad days. When people have a perception you have to be strong enough in your own heart. The best way to (counter) all these judgements is to get runs and everything will feel lovely.
Grace, genetics and hard-work:
You work hard to improve your concentration, technique and your ability to make a 50, a 100, may be a 200. The elegance-thing is much more genetic. My father was a very good all-round sportsman but I never really saw him as a cricketer and I couldn’t tell whether he was an elegant batsman or not. But whatever he handed down between him and my mother, he handed down something which meant that when I started to play I had the flair and the easy style. The gift was by doing it that way, the positions and the time I had to play (the shots), it turned out to be productive.
Expectations being the bane of gifted players:
It’s a bugbear that people think that we cannot make mistakes or that a bowler cannot bowl a good ball. I have had people telling me you looked good and that they were upset when I got out and you think so was I. Like here, some twenty years in the commentary box, you are expecting people to play well, but then you have to remember that there is a human element, that they will make mistakes and even we made mistakes.
Is cricket losing its multi-faceted characters?
In my generation, some were immersed in the game while others were rounded like (Ian) Botham, and Bob Willis, who was interested in music. Mark Butcher, from the next generation, is a performer and guitarist. Once I met Tim Bresnan in a hotel and somehow the conversation went into diving and I realised that he was a dive-master. The trick is to quietly find out what they do and build up the story.