Before Muttiah Muralitharan made off-spin a more iconic art form, there was Lance Gibbs, considered one of the best to have played the game as a spinner. He was the first spin bowler to take 300 wickets in Test cricket. Even today, Gibbs has the best economy rate among the off-spinners who have taken more than 300 wickets. He celebrated his 87th birthday.
The off-spinner who represented West Indies has over 1000 wickets to his name in first-class cricket, a great achievement considering that West Indies have always been known for their fast bowlers.
Lance Gibbs made his debut against Pakistan on 5 February 1958. He took 4 wickets in the first match. He took 5 wickets in an innings in the third test match as he took 5 for 80 in the second innings of the test played against Pakistan on 13 March 1958. He was named on the tour of India where he failed to take a single wicket.
The first Test on the 1960–61 tour of Australia was a tie. West Indies lost in the second test, after which Lance Gibbs got a chance to play the third test match. He took five wickets in the first innings on a fast bowling pitch. Gibbs crushed Australia by 3 wickets in 4 balls.
In the next Test played in Adelaide, Gibbs was among the wickets when he took a hat-trick and became the first bowler in the 20th century to do so against Australia. He took 19 wickets in 3 matches of the series.
In 79 Tests of his career, Lance Gibbs took 309 wickets at an average of 29. During this his economy rate was 1.98. Among bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in the world, only Lance has an economy of less than 2. Test cricket’s most successful bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has given runs at an economy rate of 2.47.
Lance Gibbs took 5 wickets on 18 occasions and took 10 wickets twice in a match. In his career, he took 1024 wickets in 330 matches of first-class cricket.
get all IPL news and cricket score Here
.