AT close on 38, and with a bulging waistline that is unbecoming of such a suave character, is there still life in the old dog that is Herschelle Gibbs? If you have been following the Big Bash Twenty20 League currently being played in Australia fairly closely, there definitely is.
Gibbs has been a revelation for the Perth Scorchers in the maiden T20 extravaganza Down Under. Of course, Mickey Arthur, who signed Gibbs before he joined the Australian national side, knew what he could expect from former Protea, but even he would have been surprised by the level of consistency shown by the former Proteas star.
Consistency and Gibbs, especially in his latter years, have gone together almost like Gibbs and a quiet night out. It just does not happen very often. And that has been the beauty of Gibbs in the BBL, where he has been the force behind the Scorchers’ run to the final.
In a tournament where T20 superstar Chris Gayle also competes, Gibbs’s second place on the run-scorers list is hugely impressive. Ahead of the final, Gibbs had amassed 302 runs at 50.33, and, more importantly in this version of the game, at a strike-rate of 152.52.
His importance to the Scorchers was illustrated best in last weekend’s semi-final, where he smashed 71 off 46 balls to get his team over the line against Shane Warne’s Melbourne Stars. It was one of four half-centuries Gibbs has registered in the competition.
But what does this all mean for the bald maverick? Is a possible Proteas T20 call-up on the cards again, especially as Gibbs had a good domestic Pro20 series during the Cobras’ successful campaign last season? Or is it just a boost to his market value as a T20 freelancer?
While the latter is obvious, I firstly would like to discuss Gibbs’s domestic future here at the Cape Cobras before addressing a possible return to higher honours with the national team.
Gibbs cut a lonely figure during the Cobras’ 1-Day Cup series success after hurting a finger during one of the early league fixtures against the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers. There was no clarity on Gibbs’s involvement for the remainder of the series once he had recovered, and with the Proteas available for the latter stages of the competition, his services were not required.
With the revamped Pro20 competition just a couple of weeks away, surely Gibbs and the Cobras – after all still his home union – need to work out some sort of a resolution to get him firing out of Newlands again.
The Cobras will most likely be without their young gun Richard Levi for the opening stages of the Pro20 due to his expected call-up for the Proteas’ New Zealand tour, and will need Gibbs’s pyrotechics during the opening powerplays.
And the way the veteran is playing at the moment, he can only be a valuable asset to the defending champions if managed appropriately.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
@AdamHollioake – Ex Surrey and England cricket captain. Now Pro Cage fighter.
Am I imagining it or does Rafa pick his bum & smell it every point?
WHO TO FOLLOW
@RohitSharma – The young Indian batsman is managing to keep his spirits up with some humorous tweets on the tour Down Under.
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