Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Test matches and 114 One Day Internationals (ODI) scoring 8,231 and 3,170 runs, respectively.

[3][7] The family returned to England after Tanganyika was granted independence, when Gower was six years old, settling in Kent and later moving to Loughborough.

[11] Spurning a place at University College London, Gower returned to school in an attempt to gain two more A levels but lost interest partway through the year.

[12] Having played some matches for the Leicestershire Second XI the previous summer, Gower tried his luck at the club as a professional for the remainder of the year, for £25 per week.

[14][15] Per Gower's autobiography, An Endangered Species, "there was reckoned to be land in the family in Pembrokeshire two or three generations earlier, which an errant ancestor gambled away in a moment of boredom, and a connection with a place called Castell Malgwyn, now a country house hotel, in Cardigan.

[3] Gower's career run total in test matches of 8,231 is the fifth-highest by an English player, behind only Alec Stewart with 8,463, Graham Gooch with 8,900, Sir Alastair Cook with 12,472 and Joe Root (still active) with 12,777 .

[3] Gower made his debut for Leicestershire on 30 July 1975, during that season's County Championship, against Lancashire at Stanley Park, Blackpool.

The match, lasting only three days with 100 overs as a maximum limit imposed on both teams for each innings, ended in a draw, with Leicestershire reaching 90 without Gower getting to bat again.

[22] Wisden recorded that "The sun scarcely graced the English cricket scene with its presence in 1978, but when it did it seemed to adorn the blond head of David Gower.

[27] He made his debut in Test cricket in 1978 at Edgbaston, scoring a boundary via a pull shot off his first delivery, bowled by Pakistan's Liaqat Ali.

[28] Gower might have been more at home in the 1920s or 1930s, cracking a dashing hundred for MCC, the darling of the crowds, before speeding away in a Bugatti and cravat for a night on the town.

[27] Two scores in the eighties against India, one against Sri Lanka and two seventies against Pakistan over the winter of 1981/82 kept in him contention for an international place, but centuries were lacking in his game.

His mother had died a week before he left to captain the England tour to the West Indies which ended in a 5–0 defeat (Gower's second at their hands).

Retained as a senior player for the New Zealand series and the subsequent Ashes tour, his fortunes began to turn in December with 136 against Australia at Perth.

In 1987 Gower declined to play in that year's Cricket World Cup for he did not wish to travel, having been on nine successive winter tours since his debut.

[32] Both had been dismissed earlier that day, and they decided not to remain at the ground to "watch Allan Lamb and Robin Smith flat the Queensland attack before a small crowd".

[3][26] The selection decision prompted a vote of no confidence in the selectors at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), but it was to no avail as Gower was not included.

[36] In response to Gooch's perceived regime of hard work over talent, Gower retired from international cricket in early 1993.

[3][26] Gower, a left-handed batsmen, played with a dominant top hand and a "most graceful" style of batting[3][37] though he had a reputation for being aloof.

His languid style was often misinterpreted as indifference and a lack of seriousness, an air he bolstered with a variety of "misdemeanours" from apparently "lazy" shots, to practical jokes, even to his preference for blue (not white) socks.

"[3] At times Gower's habit of getting out just when he ought to have been settling in may have frustrated fans and selectors, but in half-hour highlight-package terms he was worth a dozen Allan Borders and a hundred Geoffrey Boycotts.

[39] Gower was repeatedly lambasted by the media as being "laid back" or "nonchalant"[39] with a "devil-may-care" approach some found infuriating, as Wisden records, "the difference between an exquisite stroke and a nick was little more than an inch" in his style of batting.

'"[41] Gower was also a right-arm off break spin bowler despite batting left-handed, who took one Test wicket at 20.00 out of the six overs he sent down on the rare occasions when he was called upon to bowl.

His domestic cricket added another three wickets to give him an overall average of 56.75;[3] however, Martin Williamson, the managing editor of ESPNcricinfo, records Gower and James Whitaker as "probably two of the worst bowlers in the country" in 1983.

Technically the game ended with the no-ball call, but Crowe hit a four off the ball which was permitted to stand, leaving Gower with the unusual match bowling figures of 0-0-4-0 (1nb).

[43] In the field, Gower is noted by biographer Kersi Meher-Homji as being a "magnificent outfielder who took amazing catches and threw with accuracy and power to run out the blasé batsman."

[45] After leaving the game, Gower enjoyed a new career as a cricket broadcaster and television personality, including being one of the team captains on the popular BBC comedy sports quiz They Think It's All Over from 1995 to 2003.

His commentary for Channel Nine, with his trademark relaxed calls of play and generous attitude to the players and fellow commentators, proved extremely popular with Australian cricket viewing audiences.

[46][47][48] Alan Tyers of The Daily Telegraph wrote that it had been "excellent having Lord Gower back on the cricket commentary: assured, amusing, urbane.

[5] In August 2014, Gower was one of 200 public figures who signed a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.