Former batsman Herschelle Gibbs is the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODIs – and sixth highest in Tests – for South Africa.
Gibbs played 90 Tests and 248 ODIs from 1996 to 2010.
He was predominantly an opener, but also occupied positions three through seven in the batting order during 14 years in international cricket.
“I don’t mind too much how people look at me. A lot of people said that perhaps I didn’t maximise my talent, that I didn’t make use of my full potential. But look, opening batting is hardly the easiest gig in cricket, especially in South Africa,,” Gibbs told Club Cricket SA, via 10bet.
“I think for me, my instinctiveness wasn’t always easy to get under control when I was opening, when the ball is seaming and bouncing all over the place. But regardless, those can be brutal conditions and it’s hard not to throw your bat at anything that you think is there to be hit.
“I live with that view of how I played the game, but for me I was trying to entertain the crowds and our fans, and if they got their money’s worth while I made runs, then I was happy. I know how difficult that job of opening the batting in international cricket really is.”
Gibbs hit 14 Test centuries as an opening batsman, including double-tons against Pakistan in Cape Town and New Zealand in Christchurch.
He scored 18 ODI centuries as an opener and three at third or fourth position in the batting order, including 175 in South Africa’s record 438-run chase against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in 2004.
“I might have small regrets when I wasn’t scoring too heavily, but I was trying to do the best I could in the role down the order. We didn’t have much experience in the middle order in 2004, and then AB de Villiers burst onto the scene, so he was moved up. That pushed me down the order at a time when my average was 50.
“I remember Darren Gough talking about it and saying he was glad he didn’t have to face me as an opener. He thought it made no sense at all. Of course, it didn’t work for me. I’d sit around, wait, get nervous, and I think my last hundred was in 2000.
“I always wonder about that, because I was never the same player when I was number five for South Africa compared to when I opened. Those last few years in Test cricket weren’t great, but I was trying to do a job for the Proteas, and it didn’t work. But if you’re someone who averages 50 as an opening batter, your career went pretty well, I’d say.”