BazBall21
International Regular
Another underrated player appreciation post, this time Lance Gibbs.
Despite a great career, Gibbs doesn’t get a great deal of hype. I think he suffers a bit from suspicions that he was a negative bowler to the extent of not being a match-winner; but in actual fact he has plenty of match-winning performances to his name and they came in a variety of conditions. He combined this attacking potency in helpful conditions with a famous knack of keeping it extremely tight on unhelpful surfaces.
He had the luxury of playing in a great side, but had the disadvantages of playing mostly on very flat pitches and obviously also had to do without DRS.
As well as the body of work, becoming the top wicket taker of all time by the end of his career, he has a balanced distribution of wickets, having a great tour of Australia in the famous Benaud-Worrell series, performing very well in England and at home, as well as great returns from the subcontinent.
Not saying he is without his flaws. SR is high even for the era, struggled in NZ and I think he would have to reduce the average level of flight offered if he was to bowl today, but I would say he is probably the least flawed out of the contingent of class spinners of the time: Gibbs, Chandra, Underwood, Bedi, Prasana etc.
Despite a great career, Gibbs doesn’t get a great deal of hype. I think he suffers a bit from suspicions that he was a negative bowler to the extent of not being a match-winner; but in actual fact he has plenty of match-winning performances to his name and they came in a variety of conditions. He combined this attacking potency in helpful conditions with a famous knack of keeping it extremely tight on unhelpful surfaces.
He had the luxury of playing in a great side, but had the disadvantages of playing mostly on very flat pitches and obviously also had to do without DRS.
As well as the body of work, becoming the top wicket taker of all time by the end of his career, he has a balanced distribution of wickets, having a great tour of Australia in the famous Benaud-Worrell series, performing very well in England and at home, as well as great returns from the subcontinent.
Not saying he is without his flaws. SR is high even for the era, struggled in NZ and I think he would have to reduce the average level of flight offered if he was to bowl today, but I would say he is probably the least flawed out of the contingent of class spinners of the time: Gibbs, Chandra, Underwood, Bedi, Prasana etc.
