Astle's knock >>>>>>>>>>>> Gibbs' TBF, and Gibbs' was fantastic even before Bracken dropped that sitter which allowed it to end-up bigger still.
I couldn't fail to enjoy that 175, along with all the other SAfrican knocks that insane innings, obviously, but for me most of Gibbs' best moments came much earlier - 1999/2000, for instance, and 2001/02 and 2002/03.
As for Gibbs at large, well, there's no denying IMO that he was something of a flat-track bully - the inswinger and outswinger would usually cause him problems, and he wasn't the best player of the turning ball either. However, when he got in on a flat pitch, watch-out if you were a bowler, kick-back and enjoy if you were a spectator - he was a sensational sight, the apparent ease of his strokeplay far better for my money than the speed he scored at - the way he just put the bat there and it so often hit the middle. He had the best of the Worlds of Gower and Richards combined when he was on-song on a flat deck and a non-swinging ball. The fact that he was usually get-out-able should either of those not be present doesn't change that at all, even if it does mean he was far from a player of the highest class.
Also, I've often wondered what'd have happened had he never been asked to open. Would things have been better or less good? I don't think anyone can really know.
) and that miss meant they did.
