HERSCHELLE HERMAN GIBBS' fourth century in Test cricket, this one against India at the Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein, encompassed aggression, fluency and a range of shots. The Cape-coloured batsman had played three previous three-figure knocks, his career-high being the unconquered 211 against the Kiwis in Christchurch two seasons ago. There might have been many such instances of Gibbs stamping his authority while opening the innings, be it for his club, province or South Africa. But the right-hander's fine strokeplay that made the Indian total of 379 shrink by nightfall on the second day of the first Test, was a splendid effort and a treat for the eyes.
The pitch at Bloemfontein has been kind to the attacking right-hander. It was here early this year that he shrugged off the 'Bunny-of-Chaminda Vaas' tag with a neatly compiled 79 in the fifth one-day international between South Africa and Sri Lanka. The surface itself, according to the Free State Union curator and its former fast bowler Nico Pretorious - who shared the new ball with Allan Donald, Franklyn Stephenson and Corrie van Zyl - had undergone a sea change. He had predicted that the pitch would be at its best from the second day onwards.
Quite correctly the pitch did show improvement, but the pace bowled by the Indian threesome in Javagal Srinath, and the two leftarm seamers, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra, proved easy for Gibbs to enjoy himself.
When Gibbs returned to the South African ranks on January 1, 2001 after serving a six-month ban because of his involvement in match-fixing, he looked completely out of sorts against the two Lankan left-arm bowlers, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa. Vaas had considerable experience, and Zoysa was not exactly a rookie and Vaas dismissed Gibbs four times in a row. And in the third Test at the Centurion, Zoysa accounted for him. So at least at that point of time Gibbs had problems galore against the leftarm seamer delivering over the wicket.
Gibbs' poor form was surprising because in the run-up to these matches against the Sri Lankans, he was scoring runs aplenty for Western Province. Test match cricket is of course altogether different from a provincial first class match, but South Africa did not lose sleep over his poor form. They knew that a naturally gifted batsman like Gibbs had to come out of the rut sooner than later and as it happened, he was among the leading run-makers for South Africa which recorded a double, winning the Test series 2-0 and the one-day international series 5-1 against Sri Lanka.
Gibbs' superlative batting in the Caribbean marked a new phase in his international career which he had predicted would be "more professional and better" after the first one that was broken by the match-fixing scandal. Gibbs' scores in the Test series in the West Indies were: 8 and 83 not out in Guyana, 34 and 87 (Port of Spain), 34 and 19 (Barbados), 85 and 45 (Antigua) and 18 and 51 (Jamaica). In all he made 464 runs, just a few runs short of the highest scorer, Darryl Cullinan.
Then in the seven one-day internationals that followed the Test series he had scores of 8 in Jamaica, 104 in (Antigua), 46 and 27 (Grenada), 107 (Barbados), 1 and 1 (Port of Spain and St. Vincent). His aggregate of 294 was just four runs short of the highest of 298 by Jacques Kallis. For a batsman who had a shaky start on his debut in Test cricket against India at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta (he made 31 and 9 and fell to Srinath and Prasad), the second phase of his career, though it was a horrible beginning against the Sri Lankans, has become bright.
Gibbs has turned into a batsman who can explode into strokeplay at any time. At the same time he can also play a most sensible and patient innings. Proof of this was evident in the Test series against the West Indies. He took four hours and six minutes to make an undefeated 83 in the second innings of the first Test in Guyana, 10 minutes short of six hours to make 87 in the second innings of the second Test in Port of Spain and nearly four hours to make 85 in the first innings of the fourth Test in Antigua. In the same Test he also took 225 minutes to make 45 in the second innings.
But in the one-day internationals he was naturally faster. However, his 141-ball 104 in Antigua, though effective, was a somewhat slow effort. Similar was his 132-ball 107 in Barbados. But Gibbs showed that he was a determined man wanting to prove to himself all over again. As a batsman he had arrived again, but his off-the-field antics led people to believe that he had a Ricky Ponting streak in him.
Gibbs blotted his copybook - he was reprimanded by Match Referee Mike Denness for showing dissent to a dismissal verdict in one of the one-day internationals - by admitting to smoking marijuana with four other teammates in Paul Adams, Justin Kemp, Roger Telemachus, Andre Nel and physiotherapist Craig Smith. Gibbs, already under caution by the United Cricket Board for his misdemeanour at Cape Town in mid-2000, was fined Rands 10,000 for the marijuana episode, but the UCB had not executed the previous fine of Rands 15,000 and three-match suspension for the Cape Town incident.
In June this year, Gibbs faced a disciplinary committee hearing and was cleared for the tour to Zimbabwe, but he was asked to undergo counselling to reform his life by Springbok hero Morne Plessis. The long winter break appeared to have done good to Gibbs and the other South Africans. Gibbs was a star in South Africa's annihilation of Zimbabwe in the short two-Test series and three one-day internationals. He made 221 runs as against Gary Kirsten's 316 in the Test series and 233 in the three one-day internationals.
Obviously, it has been a tough 12 months and more for Gibbs. "It's the biggest mistake I made in my life," he had said about his being a party to the offer made by the then South African captain Hansie Cronje before the one-day international against India in Nagpur in 2000. He was offered $15,000 to make less than 20 in that match. He was fined 60,000 Rands by the UCB because he had 'conspired' to fix a match.
But since then Gibbs' cricket fortunes have revived. His century against the Indians was a case in point that gave value for money and also proved that he is such a great asset to the South African side. This is what his captain Shaun Pollock said at the end of the first Test: "Herschelle is good and a real gem for us. He does bat with freedom. He is really a pleasure to watch. He has come a long way.
"This season he has stepped up the gear. I am sure even the Indian press would be impressed by the way he plays."
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