Herschelle Gibbs
Title: Herschelle Gibbs
Subject: English cricket team in South Africa in 2004–05, Graeme Smith, South African cricket team in Australia in 2005–06, Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2005–06, New Zealand cricket team in South Africa in 2007–08
Collection: 1974 Births, African People of British Descent, Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town, Cape Cobras Cricketers, Cape Coloureds, Commonwealth Games Competitors for South Africa, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists for South Africa, Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup, Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Durham Cricketers, Glamorgan Cricketers, Khulna Royal Bengals Cricketers, Living People, Mumbai Indians Cricketers, Northern Districts Cricketers, Perth Scorchers Cricketers, South Africa One Day International Cricketers, South Africa Test Cricket Centurions, South Africa Test Cricketers, South Africa Twenty20 International Cricketers, South African Cricketers, South African Rugby Union Players, South African Soccer Players, Sportspeople from Cape Town, St Lucia Zouks Cricketers, Western Province Cricketers, Yorkshire Cricketers
Herschelle Herman Gibbs
(1974-02-23) 23 February 1974
Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa
Bowling style
Right arm medium
Opening batsman
National side
Test debut (cap 264)
27 November 1996 v India
10 January 2008 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 42)
3 October 1996 v Kenya
27 February 2010 v India
ODI shirt no.
09 (changed annually by Gibbs)
Domestic team information
Deccan Chargers
Mumbai Indians
Northern Districts
Durham Dynamos
Runs scored
6,167 8,094 13,425 11,976
100s/50s
Balls bowled
6 – 138 66
– – 26.00 28.50
5 wickets in innings
10 wickets in match
0 – 0 n/a
0/4 – 2/14 1/16
Catches/stumpings
94/– 108/– 176/– 170/–
Source: CricketArchive, 4 December 2013
Herschelle Herman Gibbs (born 23 February 1974) is a South African cricketer, more specifically known as a batsman.
Gibbs was schooled at St Joseph's Marist College and then Diocesan College in Rondebosch. Gibbs was a gifted sportsman at school featuring in SA Schools teams for rugby, cricket and soccer.
At backward point, he was considered by some to be the next Jonty Rhodes in his ability to hit the stumps, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the eighth highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the tenth highest success rate.[1] Gibbs is said to rarely practice in the nets before a match. It is said he prefers to play on instinct in this case.
He became the first player to hit six sixes in one over in One Day International cricket, doing so against the Netherlands in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. On 8 June 2007 he got married in St Kitts to Tenielle Povey,[2] but divorced soon afterwards.
He was the fifth international franchise player signed to the Caribbean Premier League and the first South African player to be named to the new Twenty20 tournament.[3]
Struggle with form 2
Indian Premier League 3
Bangladesh Premier League 4
Controversies 5
Gibbs has scored two double centuries in his Test career, both contrasting innings. His first was an innings of 211 not out against New Zealand at Jade Stadium in 1999. His innings took 468 balls while his second double century, 228 against Pakistan came off just 240 balls. In that innings in Newlands, he reached a national record partnership of 368 with Graeme Smith. He has put on a further two 300-run opening stands with his captain, making them the only pair in Test history to break 300 on three occasions. He also holds the South African second wicket record, a partnership of 315* with Jacques Kallis.
Gibbs famously dropped a catch in a World Cup game against Australia in 1999, when he attempted to throw the ball up into the air in celebration before he had full control of it. The player that he dropped, Steve Waugh, went on to make a century and win the game for Australia, a victory which also gave the Australian side the momentum they required to go on and win the tournament. It was claimed at the time that, immediately after the dropped catch, Waugh had "sledged" Gibbs with the statement, "You've just dropped the World Cup", but, in his autobiography Out of My Comfort Zone, Waugh denies this. Waugh did state, however, that teammate Shane Warne had noticed that Gibbs had developed a habit of throwing the ball in the air prematurely after taking catches and instructed his colleagues not to leave the crease too quickly if they happened to be caught by Gibbs, just in case the situation that happened to Waugh should actually occur.
Gibbs is one of the only four batsmen in ODI history to score hundreds in three consecutive innings, the others being Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) and Quinton de Kock (South Africa).[4] On 3 October 2002, in Potchefstroom, his 153 was more than the rest of his team made altogether in a total of 301 for eight against the Bangladeshis, who were beaten decisively. On 6 October, in the 2nd ODI of that series, Gibbs had a chance to become the only batsman to score four hundreds in a row. South Africa was set the target of 155 for victory, and Gibbs fell just three runs short, finishing unbeaten on 97. With just six runs needed for victory, he had the strike on 96, but Alok Kapali bowled a legside wide that went for four and made his task almost impossible.[5]
On 12 March 2006, Gibbs played a monumental innings in the 5th ODI against Australia, scoring 175 off just 111 balls leading South Africa to victory.he was batting with Graeme Smith after Boeta Dippenaar got out on 1(3)bowled by Nathan Bracken. This was the highest scoring One Day International match in history and his innings broke several batting records. It was the highest ever score made in an ODI against Australia, beating Robin Smith's effort in 1993. By bringing up his hundred off just 79 balls, he also brought up what was at the time the fastest ever ODI century against Australia. More importantly however, it was the fastest ever hundred by a South African batsman against any opposition, although the record would be broken later in the year by Mark Boucher.[6] It was also the highest ever score by a batsman in South Africa. He scored 126 runs in boundaries, the most ever by a batsman.[7] This record stood until 11 April 2011, when Shane Watson hit 150 runs in boundaries against Bangladesh.
In the match against the Netherlands in the group stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Gibbs hit six sixes in an over off the bowling of Daan van Bunge becoming the first player in One Day International history to do so.[8] Ravi Shastri and Sir Garfield Sobers had previously achieved this feat in first-class cricket but to date no player has achieved this in Test Cricket. In doing so, he raised US$1 million for the Habitat for Humanity housing projects as part of a contest run by tournament sponsor Johnnie Walker.[9] It is likely that his being awarded citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis was due to this feat.[10] His six hitting form continued throughout the tournament and when he hit Jacob Oram into the stands during a Super Eight match he drew level with Australian batsman Ricky Ponting on 28 for most sixes in World Cup history.[11]
Gibbs played for Glamorgan in the 2008 County Twenty20 tournament where he had a successful time; his highest score being 98 off just 52 balls in a losing game against Northants.[12] He then signed up to play for Glamorgan for the 2009 County season, replacing Mark Cosgrove as the overseas player at the end of June.[13] He also represented Glamorgan in two NatWest Pro40 League matches in that same season.[14]
Gibbs then signed for Yorkshire Carnegie for the 2010 Friends Provident t20 tournament, where he was their overseas player, scoring 101 from 53 balls against Northamptonshire to achieve his first century in English T20 cricket.[15]
His test career came to an end following the 2007/08 West Indies tour of South Africa.
In the 2011/12 season the Perth Scorchers signed Gibbs for their campaign in the Australian Big Bash League. Gibbs did a brilliant job for the team so much so that they made it to the final. He was the third highest run scorer. He scored 302 runs in 7 matches with an average of 43.14. His prominent batting helped the Scorchers to participate in the Champions League T20 which was held in South Africa during September 2012.
Struggle with form
Gibbs at fielding practice, Adelaide Oval, January 2009.
In the past two series against England and the West Indies he was brought down the order from the opening batsman to the middle order due to lack of form. After the move he regained form and looked more comfortable batting against the older ball. On 22 April 2006, Gibbs paid the price for his recent run-drought, and was dropped for the second and third Tests against the
He came back into the side in the middle order but continued to struggle for runs. On the conclusion of the 1st Test against Pakistan in January 2007 he had gone over 2 years without scoring a century. He had come close on many occasions to ending the drought, getting out in the nineties four times.
In April 2009, his sixteen One Day International innings since the March 2008 one-day series in Bangladesh having yielded just three fifties, even Stuart Hess, his most ardent media supporter, was moved to cast doubt over his future. Hess had famously recommended Gibbs as captaincy successor to Shaun Pollock in 2003, but now, noting that his "average, as an opener, in that same period is 25.25, more than 10 runs below his overall average of 35.87", Hess felt "a sense that Gibbs is living off past deeds and not playing with the requisite form needed to hold on to a national spot."[16] He noted, however, that Gibbs was the only South African with more than 1,000 World Cup runs and that, of the twelve others, only Sachin Tendulkar with 57.93 and Sir Viv Richards with 63.31 had better averages:
Perhaps putting up with Gibbs's current inconsistent streak may just have to be the pay-off South Africa have to make if it means he can help guide the national side to greater glory in two years time.[16]
After being dropped from the side Gibbs stated that he wanted to perform well in the domestic cup and that he was feeling well about it. He stated that his aim was to play in the 2011 Cricket World Cup[17]
In April 2008, Herschelle Gibbs joined the Deccan Chargers of the Indian Premier League. His mediocre performance in 2008 season made the Chargers' management put him on sale. However, he came up with splendid knocks in the second season helping the Deccan Chargers ahead with four continuous wins in their first four matches. Of all the openers, Adam Gilchrist and Gibbs have been the most explosive pair. He also played a crucial role in the finals by scoring an unbeaten 53 (48 balls) in the final when Adam Gilchrist went out for a duck. He also took a crucial catch off Mark Boucher at point when the Royal Challengers were cruising to the victory. In the 2012 version of the IPL, he was signed by the Mumbai Indians with a reported fee of US$50,000. His top score is 69* (56) v Chennai Super Kings. In 2012 he scored 66* (46) for the Mumbai Indians.
In a new T20 championship in Bangladesh, the team of Khulna Royal Bengals in the Bangladesh Premier League bought him for $50000 as their team member on 19 January 2012.
In 2001 Gibbs was fined along with several teammates for smoking marijuana during that year's tour of the West Indies.[18]
Most notoriously, Gibbs was involved in the match fixing affair with former captain Hansie Cronje, who offered him $15,000 to score "less than 20" in the 3rd One-Day International of a series. He tearfully claimed to the King Commission of inquiry into corruption in South African cricket that he did not follow through on his side of the bargain, in fact scoring a fine 74. As a result he was banned for only six months. He repeatedly refused to tour India fearing arrest and refused to even speak to Indian Police over the matter. However, Gibbs was named in the South African squad to tour India in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and as a result, he had to meet with Indian Police over his involvement in the match-fixing scandal.[19]
On 15 January 2007, it was announced that Gibbs would face a disciplinary panel after making racist comments during the 1st Test against Pakistan. His words had been picked up on the stump microphone saying remarks such as "go back to the zoo" and swearing to the Pakistani players and as a result heard across the world. The comments were said to have been directed at the members of the crowd after teammate Paul Harris had been abused by them whilst fielding. The Pakistani management made an official complaint to referee Chris Broad and Gibbs was banned for two Tests.[20] He appealed against the ban but this was rejected by the ICC's code of conduct commissioner, Richie Benaud. The ban was, however, changed to one Test, one Twenty20 game and one ODI match – all against Pakistan.
An innings-by-innings breakdown of Gibbs' Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).
List of international cricket centuries by Herschelle Gibbs
List of cricketers banned for match fixing
Hess, Stuart. "Is Gibbs a risk worth taking?" IOL, 8 April 2009.
^ "Statistics – Run outs in ODIs".
^ "Herschell Gibbs ties the knot in St Kitts-Nevis". caribbeannetnews. 13 June 2007.
^ http://cplt20.com/news/history-maker-herschelle-gibbs-latest-big-name-sign-caribbean-premier-league
^ "ODIs – 100s in Most Consecutive Innings".
^ "Scorecard: South Africa v Bangladesh 2002–03".
^ "Fastest Centuries and Half Centuries".
^ "ODIs – Most Runs in Boundaries in an Innings".
^ "Gibbs matches Sobers in easy win". BBC Sport. 16 March 2007.
^ "Big Bonanza Awaits Big Hitters At The Cricket World Cup". Cricketworldcuplatest. 15 March 2007.
^ "Hayden's hat-trick to remember". Official Cricket World Cup site. 25 March 2007.
^ "Scorecard:New Zealand v South Africa".
^ "Northamptonshire v Glamorgan, Twenty20 Cup 2008 (Midlands/Wales/West Division)". Cricket Archive. 22 June 2008.
^ "First Class Matches Played by Herschelle Gibbs". Cricket Archive.
^ "List A Matches played by Herschelle Gibbs". Cricket Archive.
^ "Northamptonshire v Yorkshire, Friends Provident T20 2010 (North Division)". Cricket Archive. 2 July 2010.
^ a b Hess 2009.
^ http://content.cricketnirvana.com/news/international/2010/october/news-20101028-361.html
^ "South Africa's Nel denies smoking drugs at tour party".
^ "India awaits Gibbs". BBC Sport. 9 October 2006.
^ "Gibbs banned for racist comments". BBC Sport. 15 January 2007.
Herschelle Gibbs at CricketArchive
Herschelle Gibbs at Cricinfo
Batsmen who have scored centuries against all Test playing nations in ODI cricket
Ricky Ponting (vs Bangladesh on 6 Aug 2003)
Sachin Tendulkar (vs Bangladesh on 16 Mar 2012)
Virat Kohli (vs South Africa on 22 Oct 2015)
Herschelle Gibbs (vs England on 6 Feb 2005)
Hashim Amla (vs Australia on 19 Nov 2014)
Note. The opposition & date of achieving the feat by the batsmen is in parenthesis.
Cape Cobras – current squad
91 Williams
4 Puttick
5 Peterson
6 Kemp
8 Steyn
9 Kleinveldt
21 JP Duminy
23 Zondeki
24 Philander
28 Ontong(c)
29 Pote
67 Langeveldt
74 van Zyl
86 Plaatjies
88 Levi
Vilas(†)
Kleinveldt
Barnes(†)
Piedt
H Amla
Coach: Adams
Mumbai Indians – current squad
3 Harbhajan
5 Finch
7 Lad
8 Hazlewood
9 Rayudu
12 Bumrah
15 Chand
16 Suchith
19 Gopal
23 V Kumar
27 Tare
30 P Ojha
33 Suyal
45 Rohit (c)
54 Simmons
55 Pollard
72 P Patel
78 Anderson
81 McClenaghan
90 de Lange
99 Malinga
228 Pandya
Wakhare
Hilfenhaus
Coach: Ponting
South Africa squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists
1 Kirsten
2 Gibbs
3 Kallis
4 Cullinan
5 Cronje (c)
6 Benkenstein
7 Pollock
8 Rhodes
9 Boucher (wk)
10 Donald
11 Crookes
12 Dawson
13 Klusener
14 Elworthy
15 Boje
Ntini was named in the original squad, but was replaced on 23 April 1999 by Dawson
South Africa squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup
1 Pollock (c)
2 Boucher
4 Dippenaar
5 Donald
7 Hall
12 Ntini
13 Peterson
14 Rhodes
16 Smith Replacement for Rhodes
1 Bosman
3 de Villiers
8 Langeveldt
9 Nel
12 Pollock
13 Prince
14 Smith (c)
15 Telemachus
Coach: Arthur
South Africa squad – 2007 ICC World Twenty20
1 Smith (c)
2 Bodi
5 Duminy
8 A. Morkel
9 M. Morkel
10 Nel
14 Tshabalala
15 van der Wath
Loots Bosman was ruled out of the competition with a lower back injury.
South Africa squad – 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Semi-Finalists
2 Abdulla
3 Botha
10 M. Morkel
11 Ontong
12 Parnell
14 Steyn
15 van der Merwe
11 A. Morkel
14 Theron
Coach: van Zyl
Use South African English from July 2012
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Use dmy dates from March 2011
Cape Cobras cricketers
Alumni of Diocesan College, Cape Town
South African cricketers
South Africa One Day International cricketers
South Africa Test cricketers
South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers
Western Province cricketers
Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa
Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa
Cape Coloureds
Sportspeople from Cape Town
South African rugby union players
South African soccer players
Glamorgan cricketers
Yorkshire cricketers
Northern Districts cricketers
African people of British descent
Durham cricketers
Mumbai Indians cricketers
Perth Scorchers cricketers
St Lucia Zouks cricketers
Khulna Royal Bengals cricketers
Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup
English cricket team in South Africa in 2004–05
England cricket team, South Africa national cricket team, Andrew Strauss, Jacques Kallis, Matthew Hoggard
South Africa, Test cricket, Shaun Pollock, AB de Villiers, 2003 Cricket World Cup
South African cricket team in Australia in 2005–06
Brisbane, Australia national cricket team, Ricky Ponting, Shaun Pollock, Melbourne
Australian cricket team in South Africa in 2005–06
South Africa, England, Australia national cricket team, South Africa national cricket team, Australia
New Zealand cricket team in South Africa in 2007–08
South Africa national cricket team, Dale Steyn, New Zealand national cricket team, Kyle Mills, Herschelle Gibbs