David Gower, born 1957, is a former Hampshire cricketer and England cricket captain.

After making his debut for Leicestershire in 1975 he eventually moved to Hampshire in 1990, where he played for three years.

Gower scored well over 25,000 first class runs and his graceful batting soon earned him an England call up in 1978.

He became England captain in 1983 for three years and returned as skipper again in 1989, and in total scored 8,231Test runs.

The high point of his career came in the 1985 Ashes series, when Gower made three scores in excess of 150, and when he retired he was the leading Test run scorer in English history.

However, Gower's career was plagued by controversy, and on occasions he infuriated other players and supporters with his seemingly casual attitude, that ultimately led to him being dropped by England under the new captain Graham Gooch.

Since retiring from cricket he has become a TV personality, creating many laughs in his role as captain on the BBC sports show They Think It's All Over, and being a regular cricket commentator for Sky Sports.

Name: David Gower OCCUPATION: Cricketer Date of birth: April 1, 1957 Local link: Former Hampshire captain