After serving a six-month ban for his part in the match-fixing scandal, the talented Western Province batsman is again available for selection for the South African Test team
Peter Robinson So what about Herschelle Gibbs, then? Should the South African selectors welcome him back with open arms and rush him into the side for the second Test against Sri Lanka starting at Newlands on January 2? Or might it be felt that a little tact and discretion would be in order?
On January 1 Gibbs will have served his six-month suspension from international cricket, a ban imposed on him for agreeing to former captain Hansie Cronje’s request to under-perform in a one-day international in India in March. The fact that Gibbs, being Gibbs, cocked up the arrangement and scored a 53-ball 74 was offered in mitigation when the United Cricket Board came to pass judgement on him.
In a strictly legal sense, then, there is nothing to stop South Africa picking him for the Newlands Test. He will have served his ban and no matter that he was desperately lucky not to have been given five years is neither here nor there.
Indeed selection convener Rushdi Magiet opened the door for Gibbs’s recall when he said that the selectors “reserved the right” to add to the squad named for both the Kingsmead Test, starting on Boxing Day, and Newlands.
So he’s in their thoughts, and in purely cricketing terms, this is how it should be. There is very little doubt that Gibbs is one of the finest talents in the modern game. Despite his suspension, there is still time to prove himself one of the greats provided he can keep his impetuosity under control.
It is also true that with the retirement of Jonty Rhodes from Test cricket, South Africa could do with someone with fizz in the field. Without Rhodes or Gibbs in the side, South Africa are a good fielding team. With them, South Africa can be great. The selectors are fully aware of this. They know that Gibbs adds value.
But if you bring him in, who do you leave out? Boeta Dippenaar? He was allowed to score his maiden Test century at the Wanderers a week-and-a-half ago. No matter what he does at Kingsmead, it would make little sense and do his confidence no good to leave him out at Newlands.
Or what about Neil McKenzie? He’s got a fifty, a hundred and two not outs in his last four Test innings, not to mention a maiden one-day century in East London last weekend. He’s the man in form at the moment.
In the long term, Gibbs will probably replace Daryll Cullinan at number four, but when this will happen is anyone’s guess. Cullinan has had an odd sort of season. He seems to be hitting the ball well, but has got himself out too often for his own good.
But you have to play him against Sri Lanka because of his record against the islanders and the fact that he knows how to play Muttiah Muralitharan. A lot goes on inside Cullinan’s head and often it’s difficult to fathom exactly what that is. Introspection is not necessarily an asset for a cricketer.
Perhaps, though, Cullinan is the one most under threat and how he responds at Kingsmead might decide the issue, at least from a purely cricketing perspective.
There are, however, other considerations. Gibbs finishes serving his ban on December 31. Strictly speaking, then, there is nothing to stop the selectors picking him on January 1 to play on January 2. But would this be seemly or would it send out the wrong kind of signal, not just to South Africa, but to the cricketing world?
This is not an easy one to work out, and perhaps the safest way to reintroduce Gibbs would be in the squad for the remaining four one-day internationals which precede the final Test match against Sri Lanka.
All of this is speculation, of course, but it does lend an edge to the Boxing Day Test, one that this summer needs. It is difficult to assess just how the Sri Lankans will measure up after what has been an extremely slow start to their tour, but what is certain is that their big guns, most notably Sanath Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu, are well overdue for substantial contributions.
Comes Kingsmead they should have had more than enough time to adapt to South African conditions. If they don’t fire, the tourists will struggle to make an impression in this country.
Besides this, though, Sri Lanka need to be able to bowl South Africa out twice, and here, at least, they look better equipped than the recently departed New Zealanders. The left-armers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa should be able to swing it at Kingsmead and it will be interesting to see whether Dilhara Fernando, by all accounts the quickest of them, gets a run in Durban.
And then there’s Muralitharan. Who knows, depending on how he bowls at Kingsmead, he could still play a part in bringing Gibbs back into the South African side sooner rather than later.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa