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West Indian
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West Indies
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WI
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Lance Gibbs
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Cricket_no_picpng
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Right-handed batsman (RHB)
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Right arm off-break (OB)
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79
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488
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697
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0/0
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25
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27,115
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309
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2909
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18
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2
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8-38
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52/0
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330
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1,729
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855
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0/0
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43
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78,430
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1,024
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2722
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50
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10
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8-37
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203/0
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5 February
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1958
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5 February
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1976
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(born
29 September 1934 in
Georgetown ,
British Guiana (now
Guyana ) was a
West Indies Cricketer , one of the most successful
Spin Bowler s 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, however, a very poor batsman, who never made a half-century in
First-class Cricket .
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 , five at
Adelaide (including a
Hat-trick ) 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 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 .
In 1973, at the age of almost 39, Gibbs made his (
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.
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 the cousin of another great West Indies cricketer,
Clive Lloyd , with whom he appeared for West Indies on a number of occasions.
