The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Gibbs's inspiration: the epic chase

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 23, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Gibbs's inspiration: the epic chase

Melbourne: South African Herschelle Gibbs, the first player to hit six sixes in an over in one-day cricket, has said he was drawing inspiration from the epic 438 match to win against Australia in the last league World Cup match.

``The 438 game was a freak sort of game and in the mental preparation coming to the World Cup it gave me a little extra motivation, an extra incentive, to maybe explore my talents a little bit further just to see what I could accomplish,'' Gibbs said ahead of the match on Saturday.

Gibbs, who averages a modest 27 in ODIs against Australia, said the Aussie bowlers had exerted a mental stranglehold over him. McGrath has dismissed him 11 times in international cricket, only Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas has been more successful against Gibbs in one-dayers.

``Maybe the mental side of it has got something to do with it. The (Australia) don't allow you to score as freely as you do against any other nation and they have always had a lot more experience than any other team I have played against and that is something you can't put a price on,'' Gibbs was quoted as saying by The Age.

``There is always a bit of banter that goes on, it is something we have come to expect of Australia, but when you have played against them for long enough that's just the way it is. There is always going to be some banter between South Africa and Australia,'' he added.

Gibbs is, however, determined to set things right at his third World Cup. ``The guys have a lot of belief in each other, and that goes a long way, especially against Australia. I think we have got the team now to go all the way. ``It's my third World Cup now and the last two we have been very unlucky. We've got the squad now and with a bit of luck, who knows what can happen.'' — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport