ANGRY, DARK CLOUDS scudded across the ground on an icy wind and time and again the frozen players were driven into the dressing-rooms by showers of rain and sleet. Headingley, this April morning, was perfectly foul.

There is not another cricketing nation on the planet whose players are subjected to such appalling conditions and, while accepting that this spring was wetter and even more miserable than usual, the earliest-ever start to the first-class calendar did absolutely nothing to present cricket as an attractive, enjoyable pastime. Quite the reverse, in fact.

The windows in the press box quickly became fogged up in the dank atmosphere. Using the sleeve of my shirt, I wiped a small area and peered out: Darren Gough was out there somewhere, taking on Worcestershire, hoping to coax his frigid body into the spell which would prove him indisputably fit and able to represent England in the Texaco Trophy against South Africa. Finally I spotted him, at third man, huddling beneath a mountain of sweaters.

He bowled pretty well, considering. A couple of wicket and the occasional lively delivery: all that could be expected of a man whose winter plans were wrecked by an injury which, initially, baffled the experts. Later, after a `bubble bath', Gough joined me, cheeks rosy pink as blood began to return to his veins.

`The start of the season has been too early,' he confirmed as he slumped into a chair. `It's been really hard playing in this cold weather and we were even having nets in the snow! It isn't surprising that people get injured – it's bound to happen in weather like this. But I suppose we couldn't have fitted all our games in if we hadn't started when we did and, besides, Yorkshire's got off to a flying start!

`The winter was really difficult. I knew something was wrong with my knee but I realised, the longer it went on, that people were starting to doubt me. After that hamstring injury I picked up last summer, I had an exploratory operation and felt fit enough to try it out when England went training in Lanzarote in November. I was in good nick: we did a triathlon and I finished in the top group. But as soon as I tried to bowl, it went again.'

On his return, Gough saw another consultant, John Webb, who lives, as it happens, in my village in Leicestershire. `I had a series of injections round my knee and they did nothing but hurt! That was when I knew I was of the tour. It was my decision to pull out – no one else's – and it broke my heart. I really wanted to go to the West Indies. Instead, within a fortnight, I was under the knife. John found a cyst behind my left knee, but that wasn't the problem: the tendon was damaged. John repaired it, giving me a six-inch scar rather than a tiny one, but he had cracked it. I haven't felt it since.

A bright old dawn: Gough in 1994, the year he exploded onto the Test scene. Opposite: in Lanzarote last autumn, where he did well in the triation but knew something was wrong with his knee

`I stopped watching the Caribbean tour after the Third Test. I didn't even know what the scores were in the one-day internationals'

`I stopped watching the tour after the Third Test because I felt I wanted to get on with my training and do my own thing. I didn't even know what the scores were in the one-day internationals. I suppose it was my way of getting away from it all and coping with my disappointment at not being there. I got myself fit for Yorkshire's pre-season tour to South Africa and took a hat-trick in our second match against Western Province. I knew I was back and celebrated that night, I can tell you!'

 England MISSED Gough in the West Indies. With 21 Tests behind him they missed his experience, energy, pride and chirpy humour as much as his reverse swing, which surely would have made him a handful in the Caribbean. It is his infectious personality that made him an immediate hit with the Australians three winters ago when, in the opening Test of his first tour, at Brisbane, we were given an early glimpse of his character. Celebrating the overnight birth of his first child, Liam 10,000 miles away in Yorkshire, he planted a rampaging Craig McDermott over midwicket for six during a typically swashbuckling innings. Meanwhile the photographer Graham Morris was busy downloading a picture of young Liam from a Yorkshire newspaper into his laptop computer and I broadcast an appeal over ABC Radio for a local photographic company to print the image. At close of play that evening, Graham and I surprised the new father with a full-size colour photograph of his new-born son. More than merely moved, Gough could not for the life of him work out how we had go it!

`That has been the one consolation of this winter,' he said softly, but in broad Yorkshire`I was here when Brennan was born in December and I have been able to spend some time having an almost normal life at home for a change.

`Now the hard work starts and I know that I am going to have to prove myself all over again. That's nothing new; I'm used to it by now. I'll just let my cricket do the talking for me and know I'll have more good days than bad because I always give 100 per cent. It's the only way I know and I wouldn't be successful if I didn't charge in every ball.

`I loved Athers!' he said. `He never shied away from a challenge and never slagged off his players. He always took the blame although, at the end of the day, we have to hold our hands up and admit that we let him down. I have enormous respect for what he did for English cricket. Athers was strong – you have to be in that job.

` Alec is strong, too, but he's different. He likes to be involved with the team while Athers kept his distance. Maybe Alec will have to change a bit because you can't get too close.'

And the debate about Alec keeping wicket? `All the county players I talk to believe he should. It gives England more options and therefore a greater chance of winning. Besides, he does it well and he's proved that he can score runs anywhere in the order. He's a class batsman.

`But I'm still not sure about having two captains and I certainly believe that if you're good enough to play Test cricket, you're good enough to play one-day cricket. You must be able to adapt between the two. My rate of runs per over is one of the best about, but I'm an attacking bowler in Test matches. We also need to look at the balance of our one-day team and choose two out-and-out bowlers alongside all the allrounders.'

You, perhaps, Goughie?

`Well, everyone is trying to get into the England team and my place was up for grabs during the tour. I have to say that I feel it's still there for me. Lord MacLaurin and David Graveney both came to see me when I was in hospital which gave me real support and I want to be involved this summer.

` South Africa are great side and, I believe, a harder team than Australia. The Aussies are good at conning you but the South Africans really mean business. They bat all the way down and besides Donald and Pollock, Mornantau Hayward bowls a very lively ball. He also likes to say a few words, like all South African fast bowlers, and he looked a really good prospect when we were there with Yorkshire.

`It should be a great summer and Yorkshire have got a good chance of winning the Championship. That's my dream. We've had a excellent start, as we usually do, but we have tended to have a dodgy patch and fall away in mid-season. We should be able to bowl anybody out with our attack; we just need some luck with injuries.'

Apart from one or two obvious exceptions, Yorkshire used to be a sociable bunch to play against. It was always a hard battle on the field, followed by an enjoyable evening in the pub down the road or, even, a trip to Harry Ramsden's for fish and chips as players formed the friendships which last well into retirement. Sadly, those days have all but gone. Gough and the new generation of Yorkshire players have realised this, and are doing something about it.

`We don't all mix and get together in The Horseshoes any more,' he admitted. `That's not just because it's more competitive, but because there's more cricket on the television these days. We make judgments on other players and their characters by what we see on the TV. Often, we get it wrong because most of us are very different people on the field than we are off it.

`So, on the third day of every home Championship game this summer, we're going to invite the opposition into our dressing-room for a beer and chat. That way we can get to know each other. Shane Warne sent me a fact to cheer me up in the winter and it meant a lot. We all know it's important to make friends in this game and mustn't lose sight of that.'

`south Africa are a great side and, I believe, a harder team than Australia. The Aussies are good at conning you but the South Africans really mean business.

Australia

This image, however, does not sit easily with some extraordinary lapses from grace. Ian Botham at Edgbaston in 1981, even more so then Bob Willis at Headingley, sent feathers fluttering into the air. Fanie de Villiers at Sydney in 1993–94 caused another abject surrender. After losing by three runs to England at the MCG in 1982–83, and by one run to West Indies at Adelaide ten years later Allan Border was moved at ask if Australia would ever win a close Test match.

Every team will fail to achieve an attainable target at sometime or other, and maybe it was simply Australia's turn on these occasions. Or perhaps they are so used to dishing out the pressure that they buckle when it is their turn to suffer, and underneath those bluff exteriors the self-confidence is not quite what they pretend.

National identity parade: while Pakistan (top left) are famously volatile, and Australian intensity is exemplified by Allan Border (left), Sri Lankan rely on the aggression and flair of batsmen like Arjuna Ranatunga (above)

New Zealand

It was 26 years and 44 matches before New Zealand won their First Test, and only in the Hadlee era of the 1980s have they known anything more than spasmodic success. New Zealand has the smallest population of any Test country at just over three million: that is little more than Jamaica, and nobody expects them to be a Test country. Their players have grown up as poor relations vis-à-vis Australian cricketers, who would not play with them regularly till the 1970s; and vis-à-vis New Zealand rugby players. Their lack of confidence has been a rational response, and particularly manifest in the First Test of a series.

 Philo Wallace? It is inconceivable that he could be English, as our system does not allow the unconventional

Spectacular style: West Indian batsmen like Carl Hooper know how to express themselves freely on the field

Their forte has been batting out to secure a last-ditch defensive draw. No team in the world has been so good at resisting the temptation to play shots – the opposite of West Indies. The Greatbatch draw at Perth late in 1989, the 1983-84 Wellington Test against England, the 0-0 draw in the five-Test series in the West Indies in 1971–72 under first Graham Dowling then Bev Congdon, who might be seen as the embodiment of traditional Kiwi cricket, rather than Sir Richard or Martin Crowe: these have all been highlights of this obduracy, or lowland Scots tenacity.

But Rixon wants them to play like Aussies and go for the win, to turn the Astles and McMillans into Waughs and Pontings. New Zealand have just won four home Tests in a row for the first time, against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. But does Rixon have the talent-base to push the process further? If not, he might lose the traditional virtues of these draw-savers, without replacing them with matchwinners.

West Indies

But this was the West Indies; and the Arnos Vale ground was not merely full but overflowing as about one in eight of St Vincentians were present. These spectators wanted something more than West Indies knocking off the runs at three an over with five balls to spare, especially as England's batting hadn't come off on the previous day as well. In any event the West Indian batsmen did not pad Croft away or milk him. Quite the opposite: Clayton Lambert mowed to leg then wellied him straight and skywards; Phil Simmons swept and missed; then Brian Lara risked everything – the series stood at 2-1 – by sailing down the pitch and lofting him. Croft took 2 for 41 off nine overs, when other opponents would have seen him off with 10-3-18-1. Professor Hilary Beckles, the editor of a new book, A Spirit of Dominance (reviewed on page 49), argues that dance was about all that slaves were allowed to bring with them from Africa, and whatever music they could remember and improvise. Dance was the first mass entertainment – lithe, dramatic, sensual – and black cricket from the start was imbued with the same spirit. If nowhere else in West Indian life, freedom – of expression – was allowed on the cricket field. In St. Vincent West Indies came closer to losing that match than other international teams would have done, but by scoring their runs with such panache they pleased their supporters and inspired them to return next time. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, West Indians do so in the most spectacular style – black West Indians, that is. It cannot be coincidence that their most sober batsmen of late have been Larry Gomes, Jimmy Adams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Pakistan

The other side of the coin is that no other country has a worst that is so far from its best (even if we make allowance for some funny goings-on in recent times). When the spirit does not move, there is not enough to fall back on, no attention to detail – and fielding is often dismissed as mere detail. It is fine to no-ball frequently if you are producing wicket-taking balls at will, but not if it's an off-day. Will the pride and passion remain as the country ages and mellows?

India

Away from home, the Indian team is comparable to England's, without a central cause or purpose, not expecting to win and rarely doing so. It is not just that pitches abroad do not suit their spinners: the collective goal is not there without their millions of followers to cheer them on. Theirs is an old country, without the new patriotism of Pakistan. When there is no threat of bricks through the team-bus window, the objective dissolves into visiting the homes of Indian expatriates and duty-free shopping.

Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe

 AND WHAT of England? Well, it is always easier to analyse others than ourselves. Suffice to say that school and club coaches drill youngsters in defence as the first priority and eliminate attacking instincts. County cricket takes up the baton, emphasising the importance of avoiding failure, maintaining your place and preserving your livelihood, never mind winning. Line-and-length containment, seam-up or finger-spin, worked on old-fashioned uncovered pitches but doesn't in Test cricket now, where Pakistan show the way in trying to bowl batsmen out.

 Philo Wallace? It is inconceivable that he could be English, as our system does not allow the unconventional. Throw in the sociological factors in a country that abhors any suggestion of triumphalism, and has not the motivation of former colonies, and I'll wager we will remain in the lower division of Test countries.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd