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Good Article

Growing up as a kid watching Lance Gibbs ply his trade at DCC around the corner from my house was a treat.We marveled at his long fingers and his antics with the bat, later surpassed by Courtney Walsh.The only time I ever remembered being angered by him occurred at Bourda in 1968 when he ran from a fast bowler and got out and denied Sobers from scoring a century in each innings.
Here are some facts that stick out in my mind about Lancelot Richard Gibbs who incidentally went to the same primary school as I did some 25 years later.

1.He was the 2nd bowler and 1st spinner to reach 300 test wickets.When he did the top 2 spinners in terms of wickets were Richie Benaud who had retired with 248 test wickets and Derek Underwood who had 202 wickets at the time

2.Gibbs is the only bowler with more than 200 test wickets who had an economy rate of less then 2 runs per over.

3.His spell against India after lunch on the last day of the Kensington test was 15.3 overs,14 maidens ,8 wickets for 6 runs.I am unaware of a better spell of bowling in test cricket.

4.In Australia in 1960-61,the Great Don Bradman said that off-spinners rarely fared well in Australia,yet Gibbs took 3 wickets in 4 balls in the Sydney test and then a hat-trick in the next test in Adelaide and ended up with 19 wickets at 20 apiece in 3 test matches.

5.Gibbs is one of only a handful of West Indians to take more than 1,000 first class wickets.

Watching Lance Gibbs at Bourda in 1968 have to deal with Cowdrey and Knott using their pads was frustrating.Today, they would have been given out several times with the change in the LBW rules.His command of line and length, his loop, high arm release and prodigious spin on the deadest of tracks makes Lance Gibbs out of the top drawer for me.

In reply to Dukes

Gibbs went to the same primary school as you 25 years later.

Man how old are you?

In reply to sudden

Well he is only 86 years old so that would make me 111 years old.I have found that with age I have acquired wisdom.

In reply to Dukes

Wow- you are old

In reply to sudden

Da is de bess yuh gat???

In reply to sudden

Not to mention, Dukes uses metric years ...!

If he grew up watching Gibbs.....

Dukesie uses to walk Lancelot to school.

I always knew Gibbs was good, but didn't pay attention to the economy rate. Certainly, Hall of Famer.

Glad I picked him on my all-time WI team vs the Lara, Viv, Sobers team.

In reply to Dukes

I never had the opportunity to see him bowl, but read about him and our west indian greats...

In reply to Norm

The only reason I am older than you is because you were born on February 29th!!!!!

In reply to Dukes

True Story: I spun rings around the late great Conrad Hunte once back in the day
Pity we didn’t have the benefit of smartphones to capture the moment for posterity

That man is one of the reason, I left Barbados with an ulcer.
When ever Barbados played Guyana, I hoped something was wrong with his fingers, love him playing for the West Indies, but disliked him playing against Barbados.
I will never forget a Young Colin Blades facing him, us youngsters were on our feet, with a beautiful cover drive, next ball stumps uprooted.
Edwin Mohammed and Lance Gibbs along Charlie Stayers

In reply to Dukes

The Column writer made two mistakes.


The Indian team did not play at Bourda in 1962.. Guyana was having it's own Civil War at the time...

Also, Roy Fredericks was not a product of Demerara CC.

Roy was from Berbice, where he played his cricket.. He joined Demerara CC after returning from the West Indies tour of Australia in 1968/69...

In reply to openning

Stumps uprooted? Off of an off spinner?

In reply to imusic

poetic license.

Give opening ah break on Easter nah? Why yu so?

In reply to Elsie

U R correct on both counts.Lance's great spell was at Kensington.Freddo did play for DCC but that was after he moved to Georgetown after he got married. His wife was a Secretary at QC when I was there.

In reply to imusic
Lets say, Colin left Bim after that match and moved to Bermuda.
Never played for Barbados again.
Yes his stumps were uprooted by an off spinner.

You don't always need a machine to remove roots, and since cricket sticks have no roots, if a pacer can uproots them, even you kicking them down, can be seem as uprooted.

In reply to Dukes

Don't forget to trim the quoted material in the lead post of this thread to 4 paragraphs.

Longevity is an honor, man! That's why all those young people live in the gyms. They eat chemicals and steroids for food and hope to live as long as us old-timers, who grew up on fresh food!

Those chemicals and steroids are quite expensive too.

In reply to Dukes

Agreed....the dude came out with a test economy rate of 2 runs an over...try to best that!

In reply to LBW375

Late developer

In reply to openning

Nice Joke, but Colin left Bim to study in JA about 64 , then returned to Bim during breaks and emigrated to Bermuda about 68/69.

In reply to duke

Oh damn! A little math word problem ran Sudden off yuh thread?








Oh shoot!!

By the time I saw Lance Gibbs, he was an old man on his way out. He was the world record holder for most wickets taken in cricket tho. In those days it has no ODI, far less T20

Best off spinner I’ve seen is Saqlain Mushtaq

In reply to TheTrail

Oh no the Trail, it appears that The Dukester is 25 years older than the Gibbster.

In reply to imusic

Marlon Samuels' quicker ball.