4th ODI Hero: New Gibbs image: “Tears blurred the next delivery”

by Trevor Chesterfield

Herschelle Gibbs is no longer a party animal. Hmmm . . . Let’s rephrase that, shall we.

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Flamboyant batsman Herschelle Gibbs, now on the wagon for life as a teetotaller, showed us that he still knows how to ‘party’. Ah yes . . . That’s better.

The way he smacked his twenty-first century limited over century proved how he hasn’t lost the touch of how to rock ‘n roll. That record-breaking three-figure innings posted against a groggy Australia at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth had not only been a long time in coming: it is the result of the new image young man who has turned his life around.

The difference is he is off the sauce (that’s a not so modern slang term for booze). It also means how as a reformed drinker, he is also planning to keep fit and play in the next World Cup: whether this will be in South Asia, with or without Pakistan is a debate still to be argued by the International Cricket Council.

As with Sanath Jayasuriya, Brendon McCullum and Virender Sehwag, Gibbs plays a high-risk game full of percentages: always on the edge. Anyone who watched would remember that mid-wicket pull for six off Michael Clarke would have recognised its audacity. He pounded a waist-high full toss over the boundary and two overs later gave similar treatment to Nathan Hauritz for his second of the innings.

But the way he put it when interviewed, reaching the century was a special moment. It had been a long time in coming and with it a history background that showed how he has managed to turn his life around and earned respect with his teammates. There was an unconvincing ODI century against the West Indies at The Wanderers on February 3, 2008.

Problems began when playing in the Indian Premier League with an ensuing relationship with a Russian cheerleader followed by a very public break-up of his marriage and its headline grabbing publicity. Life had become a bad dream but managed as he lost his Test place after the disastrous series against the West Indies.

After that, he struggled to put convincing totals together and his confidence slipped along with his fielding ability. There had been the matter as well of his being caught for speeding while under the influence and being sent home from the pre-Proteas tour camp late last year because of alcohol abuse after a warning which involved breaking curfew during a T20 match.

Management told him that he had become a problem within the team, creating a bad example to the youngsters who were used as net bowlers and as extras for fielding practice. Sent to a rehabilitation clinic for a month and he was counselled about his problem. At thirty-five, Gibbs knew he had to turn his life around.

But as the coach Mickey Arthur said at the start of the ODI series in Australia in January, the South African team management has had faith in Gibbs’s match-winning talent and as such he was an important player in the team’s strategy. He is too good a player to cast aside, despite being thirty-five.

There was the century in the third ODI in Australia, but he has also been desperate to get another: a series and match-winning century to show that he still has the ability to play at this level. There were question marks about his form as well as whether he should be in the side at all.

"The answer is no to the question if I felt that my place in the side was under threat. Look, the way I play, I'm never going to be consistent. I'm just an instinctive type of player. But I was that emotional because I had to prove it to myself that I could still do it,’ he said, admitting how, with tears streaming down his face after he reached the mark, ‘I could hardly see the next ball from Shane Harwood. That is how wound up I was.

‘I feel I have been boiling for some time,’ he added, ‘probably since the third ODI at Sydney where I managed my last century. But I have probably wanted it too badly which is why it did not come sooner. I knew if I got through the first fifteen or twenty overs that I could go all the way.

‘It was an excellent pitch and the ground staff deserves credit for the way they prepared it,’ he added.

Note: Prior permission has sought from the author before republication of the above article.

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