You don’t half worry about tossing the words ”Herschelle”, ”Gibbs” and ”responsible” into the same sentence, but perhaps it’s around time to revisit a concept that still alarms many people.
Just under a year ago, after Gibbs had been nailed for smoking dope in the Caribbean and packed off to consider his follies under the guidance of Morné du Plessis, the whisper started to go around that Gibbs had shown clear signs of growing up. He started last summer with a bang, but tailed off as Australia took over South Africa’s season.
This is not a particular criticism of Gibbs. Virtually the entire South African team, not to mention South African cricket generally, fell away against the Australians. He scored a century in the third Test at Kings-mead, but struggled to impose himself in the subsequent one-day series. With South Africa in disarray, with the team’s self-belief in tatters, Gibbs was no worse than several and a little better than some. But he was unable to impose himself against the Australians and he will not count the season as one of the high points of his career.
This Monday in Tangiers, however, Gibbs played a near-perfect one-day innings as an opener. He could only have bettered it by staying through to remain unbeaten at the end. As it was, he saw South Africa’s two most reliable batsmen, Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis, go relatively cheaply, but then settled in to build partnerships with Nicky Boje and Jonty Rhodes that set up a particularly impressive victory over Pakistan.
We should not underestimate the importance of this win to South Africa’s self-belief, but at the same time let’s not get too carried away: South Africa always feel they can beat Pakistan if they give themselves enough runs to put the opposition under pressure and this is almost exactly the way the game played itself out.
Even so, Gibbs was masterly, giving Boje the strike when it became apparent that the left-hander was in the mood to go after the bowling and then partnering Rhodes in the stand that took the game away from Pakistan.
During the winter, Gibbs suggested that he wouldn’t mind a move down the order. This is not the first time he has raised this idea and it probably won’t be the last. In the long term, both Gibbs and South Africa are likely to be better served with Gibbs at number four, but at the moment it’s a little trickier.
South Africa fielded their most experienced XI for the opening match in Morocco, but it is hardly a secret that among the players who most needed to prove themselves are three of the veterans — Allan Donald, Lance Klusener and Gary Kirsten. Donald bowled particularly well and while Klusener scratched with the bat, he too did a handy job with the ball. Kirsten, however, failed and with Graeme Smith breathing down his neck, ”The Banker” is under pressure.
Kirsten would dearly love to cap his career with his third world cup, but it’s a brutal but unavoidable truth about sport at the highest level that the older you get, the less tolerance there is for failure.
On the evidence of his performances against Australia, Smith is ready to make the step up permanent, but if, during the course of this summer the selectors decide he is the man for the hour, either in the Test or one-day side, they will need Gibbs alongside him to lend experience to the partnership.
There are other options, of course, one of which would be to play Smith at three. But if last summer proved anything, it is that Jacques Kallis is most valuable to South Africa at three. It’s an old maxim that is too often overlooked that you play your most complete batsma n at three and it is hard to believe that anyone would argue that Kallis is not South Africa’s best batsman.
Smith and Kirsten opening? Possibly, but that would represent a short-term solution. Smith and Jacques Rudolph? A combination to think about for the future, but for the moment and into the world cup South Africa should open with Gibbs and AN Other. There shouldn’t really be a debate about this.