da gbg bet： Have you noticed a semblance of the West Indian style in HerschelleGibbs’ approach in the Cable & Wireless One-Day series
Haydn Gill11-May-2001Have you noticed a semblance of the West Indian style in HerschelleGibbs’ approach in the Cable & Wireless One-Day series?The South Africa opening batsman has gone about his business withaudacious strokeplay that has been highlighted by the frequency inwhich he has successfully charged down the pitch to the fast bowlers.And the results have been rewarding. On Wednesday, he completed hissecond century of the series and was Desmond Haynes’ choice as Man-Of-The-Match. Coincidentally, Haynes, the all-time West Indies’ runscorer in the shorter version of the game, played a big part of Gibbs’development when he spent a few domestic seasons in South Africa inthe mid-1990s.I learnt a lot from him when he was playing for Western Province and Ireally wanted to score a hundred for him, Gibbs said.Haynes is not the only West Indian Gibbs admires. On a few occasionsduring the course of this trip to the Caribbean, he and teammateDaryll Cullinan were in regular discussions with Sir Vivian Richards.They (Richards and Haynes) are legends in the game and any knowledgethat they can give us, you can’t really put a price on that, Gibbssaid.We obviously want to get better every season and the knowledge theycan give us can really help us.When Haynes was opening the batting for Western Province, Gibbs wasstill in his early 20s, but he was sure to play close attention.At one stage I did play with him, but at the same time I was reallylearning a lot from him as well, he said.I put all the knowledge and work into it today (Wednesday). I thinkDessie can really be proud of the all the knowledge and time that hegave to the Western Province youngsters when he was there.The way in which Gibbs has repeatedly taken a few steps down the pitchand lifted fast bowlers over their heads has been a joy to watchthat’s if you are a South African supporter.Mervyn Dillon, Nixon McLean and Cameron Cuffy might have beenembarrassed to look back to see the ball being picked up from over theboundary line on so many occasions early in the innings.Part of batting in the One-Day game is not to allow a bowler to settleinto any sort of length and line, Gibbs reasoned.It’s easy for you to allow a bowler to settle into a length. If he ishitting that length consistently like five out of six balls, it isdifficult to get the ball away.The only other thing to combat that is try to disrupt his length andkeep him guessing where he should bowl.With South Africa holding an unbeatable 4-1 lead in the seven-matchseries, Gibbs ruled out the suggestion of enjoying a rest for the lasttwo matches.Last year, I sat out for six months and I don’t intend to sit outanymore, he said, in reference to his ban for his involvement in thematch-fixing scandal. I’d like to go all the way.Another major score could make him a contender for the Man-Of-The-Series award, but he appreciates that his captain Shaun Pollock andJacques Kallis are also in line to grab the Suzuki Grand Vitara.I think the all-rounders always have the edge over the specialistbatter, but we’re all fighting for the same goal, Gibbs said.All three of us are enjoying the tour and it will be great to win Man-Of-The-Series.The award also takes into consideration performances in the precedingTest series in which Gibbs’ 464 runs were the most by any batsman.