Pratham Chhabria | 1:26pm BST 26 Could 2025
Pratham: Welcome to a different episode of Cow Nook Cricket Forged. The podcast that’s
thinking about cricket insights and historical past throughout the spectrum and all of the completely different entities that
are concerned on this sport that all of us so cherish.
Pratham: I’m joined at present once more with a gentleman that ought to want no introduction.
Pratham: He’s been a particular cricketer. And a world document holder, no much less!
Pratham: That being Sir Lance Gibbs.
Pratham: Mr. Gibbs, it’s a pleasure connecting with you as soon as once more.
Lance Gibbs: Thanks very a lot.
Pratham: I keep in mind the final time we mentioned plenty of attention-grabbing issues.
Pratham: I heard plenty of revelations.
Pratham: Even received some health recommendation inadvertently from you!
Lance Gibbs: Hahahaha!
Pratham: I don’t assume I’ve reached the purpose the place I can run 7 miles a day but – however, it’s been
useful.
Pratham: Now once we final spoke, we had been discussing completely different points pertaining to your
adolescence and path to the Take a look at facet in addition to some common insights on the way you bowled.
Pratham: And now I’d prefer to be one thing a bit completely different – what really occurred
throughout your worldwide profession in addition to after retirement.
Pratham: So with that stated, we’ll get began.
Pratham: So like we talked about final time, your firstclass profession began in 1953 bowling to the
likes of Dennis Compton & Len Hutton after they had been touring as a part of the English social gathering.
Pratham: However this time round, I wished to form of focus a bit of bit extra in your Take a look at profession and
as a part of that I wished to grasp the way you had been chosen on your very first Take a look at.
Pratham: And in that vein, one among my questions was on determining what sparked it.
Pratham: On the time of your first name as much as the Take a look at facet in early 1958, since that first sport, you solely performed 4 extra firstclass video games. And also you took 11 wickets throughout that interval, which is fairly affordable.
Pratham: But it surely’s not an entire lot of video games or wickets for any person to get chosen to the Take a look at
facet.
Pratham: After I was trying into it, it appeared just like the efficiency the selectors largely seemed
at when choosing you was this sport you had performed within the Quadrangular Event in 1956.
Pratham: It was a closing between Barbados and…
Lance Gibbs: Guiana, yeah.
Pratham: Yeah.
Pratham: You took 4 for 68 and that compelled Barbados to comply with on after Guyana piled on 581
runs within the 1st innings.
Pratham: What are your reminiscences of that match? Did you are feeling prefer it was a big turning
level in your profession?
Lance Gibbs: It definitely was. To get 4 or 5 wickets at Bourda, one of many hallmarks, on one among
the nice (batting) wickets I performed on…it’s not straightforward.
Lance Gibbs: So having achieved that, , I believe it was a serious success. It was like
bowling down Denis Compton.
Pratham: It definitely appeared from the scorecard at the least to be a fairly flat pitch for that closing.
Pratham: (On the again of your efficiency) Guiana ended up bowling them out for 211 and
then power them to comply with on…
Lance Gibbs: Proper.
Pratham: And I’m undecided if rain saved them as a result of they had been then 68/4…
Lance Gibbs: Rain, sure.
Lance Gibbs: You bought a good quantity of rain in any case there and it was in direction of the tip of the
season. What we name a “crimson season”.
Lance Gibbs: Issues went significantly nicely for us. You bought a sense about your identify then being
picked in comparison with others given this.
Pratham: Effectively, coming again to that query, proper. You’ve performed about 5 FC video games at this
level and the selectors had been taking a punt on you.
Pratham: Did you are feeling that you simply had been able to make the step as much as the Take a look at degree?
Lance Gibbs: Denis Compton was the principle man in batting in England and proper by the
Caribbean. And having bowled him out was a serious success.
Pratham: So that you felt as soon as you bought any person of his caliber…
Lance Gibbs: I might bowl out anybody on one other workforce.
Pratham: Truthful sufficient.
Pratham: With all of that stated, let’s go to your first Take a look at. February fifth, 1958. You make your
debut towards Pakistan on the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and you’ve got a fairly good begin!
Pratham: 4 for 80 within the match, and within the 2nd innings particularly you polished off lots of the
members of the Pakistani tail to place an finish to the match (West Indies gained by 120 runs).
Pratham: How did you are feeling you bowled in that sport? Did you are feeling you bowled at 100% as nicely
as you might?
Lance Gibbs: Effectively, you are feeling good as you get wickets and that was no exception.
Lance Gibbs: Everton Weekes was a very good good friend of mine and he was at first slip. And he took
two good catches, one among my bowling.
Lance Gibbs: Having deceived the batsman able to play spin with straight balls…to get 4
wickets there was an distinctive success.
Lance Gibbs: It was an necessary sport for me as a bowler. Keep in mind, in that workforce, you had
real fast bowlers like Jaswick Taylor. You already know, Wes Corridor ready within the wings.
Lance Gibbs: So to choose up wickets in that innings…you’re cementing your self within the workforce to a
sure extent.
Pratham: Proper.
Pratham: Now that you simply point out seeking to cement your self within the workforce, let’s speak concerning the man
maybe most accountable in permitting one to cement themselves in a facet, your captain…
Lance Gibbs: Gerry Alexander, sure.
Pratham: He had a blended popularity in sure circles within the sense that lots of people admired
his tenacity however he was additionally identified to be a strict disciplinarian on the bottom.
Pratham: How did you expertise him as a brand new participant coming into the facet? What was your
first impression of him?
Lance Gibbs: He was a very good captain. He had no favorites, .
Lance Gibbs: He was a person who wasn’t afraid to combine issues up so we might carry out significantly
nicely. And in case you had been performing nicely, you at all times felt you bought an opportunity.
Pratham: Truthful sufficient. As a captain, how would he examine to say any person like Sir Frank
Worrell who would go on to captain you fairly a bit? As a wicketkeeper, how would he examine
to Derrick Murray who stored later in your profession?
Lance Gibbs: How would he…
Pratham: Evaluate? Like had been there completely different sorts of personalities? Completely different kinds of
management?
Lance Gibbs: There definitely was. Frank Worrell was a longtime cricketer of nice reputation.
Gerry Alexander was nonetheless feeling his means into the workforce. You needed to be very cautious about what
you had been saying when he was standing up on the stumps, haha!
Pratham: After which as a wicketkeeper, did you discover him high notch?
Lance Gibbs: He wasn’t…I believe Derrick (Murray) was a greater wicketkeeper. As a result of he had
extra all-round expertise.
Lance Gibbs: (On Alexander) He appeared uncooked. He was excellent at conserving in Jamaica on that
onerous wicket. And that’s it.
Lance Gibbs: (Persevering with on Alexander) He was a fantastic man. He knew issues inside out.
Pratham: It’s attention-grabbing how plenty of wicket keepers in Caribbean historical past particularly throughout
roughly the time part if you performed occurred to turn out to be captains sooner or later or the
different. There was a interval the place even Rohan Kanhai was tried out as a wicket keeper within the 57
collection (to England) so just a bit bit earlier than your debut. However then he would later turn out to be your
captain!
Lance Gibbs: Mmhhmm.
Pratham: Now after your efficiency on debut, you performed within the third Take a look at of that collection vs
Pakistan. And I wish to again up a bit of bit to the first Take a look at of that collection which you didn’t play in,
as a result of that collection total was very well-known, ranging from that Take a look at.
Pratham: Hanif Mohammad made a ton to assist Pakistan draw the match following on. And it
was a memorable second in Pakistani cricket. This was their first batting famous person actually and
he saved them.
Lance Gibbs: He received a triple century, proper?
Pratham: Sure, 337.
Lance Gibbs: He batted extraordinarily nicely. And I used to be capable of get into the following Take a look at from that
efficiency.
Pratham: They wanted a bit of bit extra firepower, it appears…
Lance Gibbs: Haha!
Pratham: So we flip again to the third Take a look at. And I imply, one triple century is normally as a lot as
you’re going to get in a collection.
Pratham: However then Garry within the third Take a look at…Sobers then went and broke the world document
Lance Gibbs: 365. It was in Jamaica, wasn’t it?
Pratham: I consider so, sure. And it was a giant second…
Lance Gibbs: Oh sure, a giant second in cricket!
Pratham: And I’ve some footage of that second. I can see from the footage that there was
a…, what we’d name a “crowd invasion” lately. My guess is it was a bit of bit extra
frequent again then within the Caribbean.
Pratham: Having had the entrance row seat primarily to that sport since you had been within the facet,
what did you keep in mind the ambiance as being like in that sport?
Lance Gibbs: It was a fantastic efficiency. I’ve by no means seen something like that earlier than.
Pratham: Was it essentially the most electrifying second that you simply had witnessed in a match?
Lance Gibbs: It definitely is.
Pratham: Now on one other observe, in that collection, there was one other gentleman who was enjoying on
your facet who occurred to be an off spinner.
Pratham: He was a batting all rounder however he bowled a good quantity of off breaks. And that was
Collie Smith, who was additionally Garry Sobers’s shut good friend.
Pratham: What had been your impressions of Collie?
Lance Gibbs: He was not a giant spinner of the ball. He couldn’t put every part into it (the
off-break) on a regular basis.
Pratham: Was he a bit of bit faster by the air?
Lance Gibbs: He absolutely was.
Lance Gibbs: You already know, when he was ignored of the workforce, I got here in his place after which he simply
went away.
Pratham: After which there was the accident…
Lance Gibbs: Precisely. And the accident was with Garry as nicely. They had been enjoying league
cricket in England.
Pratham: I’ve at all times been interested in this. When you choose two spinners of the identical sort in
a facet, it’s normally not the customary factor to do.
Lance Gibbs: Effectively, they (referring to Garry & Collie) had been each batsmen as nicely. So it’s not a
query of dropping a spinner to play a spinner. I imply, the brothers made themselves within the
facet they usually needed to write their very own means.
Pratham: And Collie Smith did take wickets in that collection. In one of many video games, he took a 4-fer…
Lance Gibbs: He did, he did.
Pratham: So he undoubtedly had a level of type behind him.
Pratham: Did you are feeling that if you bowled in tandem, you two complimented one another?
As a result of such as you talked about you’re a giant spinner of the ball, he was not a lot of a giant
spinner. He bowled a bit of bit faster than you. Did you are feeling that sort of distinction was helpful?
Lance Gibbs: Is dependent upon the way you range your bowling and what you introduced in, ? You
can inform any person is doing one thing completely different. And in case you attempt to do one thing completely different to him,
you might get away with it right here or there.
Pratham: Proper.
Pratham: You ended up taking 17 wickets in that collection towards Pakistan. And it was at a fairly
good common, 23 runs per wicket.
Pratham: And also you additionally took your 1st 5 wicket haul in that collection. It was the 4th Take a look at in
Georgetown. So that you went to your 1st Take a look at primarily that you simply performed on your property floor and
ended up choosing a 5-fer, which is kind of a fantastic achievement!
Pratham: Within the collection, I did discover that 3 of these dismissals got here towards their skipper Abdul
Hafiz Kardar who was on the tour and batted I believe at quantity 7, quantity 8. Bowled a bit as
nicely.
Lance Gibbs: Yeah, yeah.
Pratham: What did you concentrate on him and what do you assume made him inclined to being
dismissed by you in that vogue (gesturing to pictures of bowled & caught at slip dismissals –
Kardar within the collection was bowled out as soon as by Gibbs and caught in shut the opposite instances by Clyde
Walcott standing at slip & Collie Smith).
Lance Gibbs: You already know, if I’m bowling at a person and I’ve gotten them out as soon as…it
registers. Since you’ve gotten him out on this means – it’s a fault he has had someplace alongside
the road that you’ve got picked it up. And in case you’ve picked it up you don’t let go.
Lance Gibbs: Abdul Kardar…he had that little self-opinionated expression to him there.
Lance Gibbs: He had performed cricket in England. And he was roughly, overlaying the English
a part of it. And it was troublesome to get nearer to him.
Pratham: So he was a bit of bit aloof?
Lance Gibbs: Sure, sure.
Pratham: And I’ve among the different names that had been within the Pakistan tour I’d prefer to share
with you (exhibiting picture of the labelled Pakistani vacationers to the Caribbean in 1957-58).
Pratham: So I used to be interested in what you made from the facet as an entire but in addition a few of these
gamers and who you rated as their finest bowler and batsman.
Lance Gibbs: Fazal Mahmood! He was a fantastic bowler. He received plenty of his fame from England.
The circumstances there would go well with him greater than in all probability within the Caribbean.
Pratham: Yup, he ended up averaging 38 in that exact collection. One of many issues I used to be
at all times interested in in that collection was simply the circumstances by way of the character of the wickets.
Pratham: As a result of it appeared for a lot of the Assessments…there have been some Assessments the place rain got here
and freshened up the pitch. But it surely appeared as if a lot of the pitches had been performed on pretty flat
surfaces.
Lance Gibbs: Yeah.
Pratham: So you’ll price Fazal as their finest bowler after which their finest batsman as Hanif or
another person?
Lance Gibbs: Hanif.
Pratham: Okay.
Pratham: I do know there was a gentleman by the identify of Saeed Ahmed who performed as nicely…
Lance Gibbs: Saeed Ahmed…he went on to higher issues.
Pratham: In order that’s that Pakistani tour on the sector.
Pratham: And after the day’s play, we hear tales from plenty of completely different environments about
how, , again then there was much more socialization between two groups. You already know,
some individuals…
Lance Gibbs: Would have a drink. Yeah.
Pratham: Have been there any members of that Pakistani touring facet that you simply ended up socializing
with or changing into buddies after that collection?
Lance Gibbs: You’d have a drink and blend with them however you don’t turn out to be buddies as we all know
buddies for years.
Pratham: I see.
To be continued ………….
