West Indian cricketer
Lancelot Richard Gibbs
(born 29 September 1934) is a former
West Indies
cricketer
, one of the most successful
spin bowlers
in
Test cricket
history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player (after
Fred Trueman
) to pass 300, the first spinner to pass that milestone, and had an exceptional
economy rate
of under two runs per over. He was a member of the squad which won the
1975 Cricket World Cup
.
In 2009, Gibbs was inducted into the
ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
.
[1]
Biography
[
edit
]
Gibbs made his first-class debut in
1953?54
, playing for
British Guiana
against
MCC
at his home ground of
Bourda
. In MCC's first (and indeed only) innings, he bowled
Denis Compton
for 18 to leave the tourists precariously poised at 51/3. Gibbs also took the wicket of
Tom Graveney
? but by then a mammoth fourth-wicket partnership of 402 between Graveney and
Willie Watson
had propelled MCC towards an
innings victory
, so Gibbs did not get a second chance to bowl.
Gibbs played a few more first-class games for British Guiana over the next few years, and some good performances (including 4/68 in the final of the Quadrangular Tournament against
Barbados
in
1956?57
) gained him selection for the West Indies side to host
Pakistan
the following season. He made his debut in the second Test at
Port-of-Spain
, taking four wickets in the match, and retained his place for the rest of the five-match series, his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket coming when he claimed 5/80 in the fourth Test at Bourda.
He went on the tour to
India
in
1957?58
, but played in only one Test, in which he went wicketless. The tour of
Pakistan
that immediately followed was a little more fruitful, with eight wickets in three games. However, it was the
1960?61
tour of Australia that was to prove a turning point in Gibbs' international career: he played only in the last three Tests, but took 19 wickets
at 20.78
: eight at
Sydney
, five at
Adelaide
(including a
hat-trick
)
[2]
and six at
Melbourne
.
The early 1960s were Gibbs' most productive period in Test cricket, and his greatest achievements came in the
1961?62
home series against
India
. Over the course of five Tests he picked up 24 wickets at just 20.41 apiece, including one of the game's greatest spells of bowling at
Bridgetown
, where he single-handedly reduced the Indians from 149/2 to 187 all out with eight wickets in 15.3 overs at a total cost of just six runs; Gibbs' final innings return of 8/38 was his best in a Test match.
In
1963
, West Indies toured England, and Gibbs had another highly successful series, taking 26 wickets at 21.30 including 5/59 and 6/98 in a ten-wicket triumph at
Manchester
. Further successful series followed: indeed, in eight successive series topped and tailed by the
1960?61
and
1968?69
tours to Australia, Gibbs never took fewer than 18 Test wickets and took five or more wickets in an innings on 12 occasions.
In
1967
, Gibbs played for
Warwickshire
in the English
County Championship
, for whom he would continue to appear each season until
1973
, although his appearances in
1969
and 1973 were reduced because of his commitments with West Indies' tours of England. In
1970
, after a winter spent with
South Australia
, he took a career-best 8/37 against
Glamorgan
, but by far his most successful season in England was
1971
in which Gibbs claimed 131 first-class wickets at only 18.89, with nine five-wicket hauls. This exceptional performance gained Gibbs a
Wisden Cricketer of the Year
award in the following year's
Almanack
. He has been retrospectively ranked by the ICC as the top bowler in Test cricket for five consecutive years starting from 1964.
[
citation needed
]
In 1973, at the age of almost 39, Gibbs made his
One Day International
debut against
England
at
Leeds
as part of the Prudential Trophy tournament, taking the wicket of England captain
Mike Denness
. He played only two further ODIs: the first again being against England two days later at
the Oval
(
11?4?12?1
and the wicket of
John Jameson
), and a single outing against
Sri Lanka
at
Manchester
in the
1975 World Cup
, in which he bowled just four overs without success.
Gibbs' last Test matches were played on the tour of Australia in
1975?76
. Although he played in all six Tests, and took 5/102 in the first innings of the first Test at
Brisbane
, his 16 wickets came at an average of over 40, the worst of his five series against these opponents. He passed the milestone of 300 Test victims at
Perth
by dismissing
Gary Gilmour
. His last Test match, and indeed his last appearance in senior cricket of any description, was at
Melbourne
, his 309th and final Test wicket being that ? again ? of Gilmour.
He was, however, a very poor batsman, who never made a half-century in
first-class cricket
.
After his retirement from the game, Gibbs emigrated to the United States, but returned to prominence briefly in
1991
when he managed West Indies' tour to England. Gibbs is involved with the
Lawrence Rowe
Foundation, which helps at-risk kids.
[3]
Gibbs is the cousin of another West Indies cricketer,
Clive Lloyd
, with whom he appeared for West Indies on a number of occasions.
Record
[
edit
]
Gibbs is the oldest player to reach 300 Test wickets, doing so at the age of 41 in 1975/76.
[4]
International cricket five-wicket hauls
[
edit
]
Gibbs' first five-wicket haul came a month after his debut, when he took 5 wickets for 80 runs against
Pakistan
in the fourth Test of the latter's
1957?58 tour of the West Indies
.
[5]
His best
bowling figures
are 8 for 38 which he took in the third innings of the third Test between the West Indies and
India
at the
Kensington Oval
in Barbados.
[6]
Described by
Cecil Kippins
as "the greatest ever bowling spell in Test Cricket", Gibbs took the eight wickets in a sixteen-
over
spell, conceding six runs.
[7]
Although Gibbs played ODI cricket, he made just three appearances, during which his best bowling figures were 1 for 12.
[8]
[9]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"ICC and FICA launch Cricket Hall of Fame"
. ESPNcricinfo. 2 January 2009
. Retrieved
19 July
2019
.
- ^
"West Indies tour of Australia, 1960/61 ? 4th Test"
. ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
4 January
2013
.
- ^
Martin, Edwin (10 March 2016).
"Cricket legends thrill fans during eventful weekend in Fort Lauderdale"
.
Miami Herald
. Retrieved
25 July
2017
.
- ^
"Ronchi's rare double, and agreeing on a result"
. ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
16 November
2021
.
- ^
"Pakistan tour of West Indies, 4th Test: West Indies v Pakistan at Georgetown, Mar 13?19, 1958"
.
ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
- ^
"India tour of West Indies, 3rd Test: West Indies v India at Bridgetown, Mar 23?28, 1962"
.
ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
- ^
Kippins, Cecil
(1971).
"The Greatest ever bowling spell in Test Cricket"
. Cricket Archive
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
- ^
"Lance Gibbs"
.
ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
- ^
"Records / Combined Test, ODI and T20I records / Bowling records / Most five-wickets-in-an-innings in a career"
.
ESPNcricinfo
. Retrieved
17 August
2015
.
External links
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Men's Young Player of the Year
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Women's Player of the Year
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Women's Young Player of the Year
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