Norman Gifford

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Norman Gifford
England (Eng)
Norman Gifford
Batting style Left-handed batsman (LHB)
Bowling type Slow left-arm orthodox (SLA)
Tests ODIs
Matches 15 2
Runs scored 179 0
Batting average 16.27 0.00
100s/50s 0/0 0/0
Top score 25* 0
Overs bowled 514 20
Wickets 33 4
Bowling average 31.09 12.50
5 wickets in innings 1 0
10 wickets in match 0 N/A
Best bowling 5/55 4/23
Catches/stumpings 8/0 1/0

As of 1 June 2005
Source: Cricinfo.com

Norman Gifford was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He was born on 30 March 1940 in Ulverston, Lancashire (now Cumbria).

Gifford served his apprenticeship as a professional cricketer in the Worcestershire second team during 1959, and when in May 1960 he took 2-25 from 18 overs in a drawn Second XI match against Kent, he was called up to the first team for the game against the same opposition that began the very next day. Gifford took four wickets in Kent's first innings, but his hopes of a repeat in the second evaporated as Worcestershire collapsed to their second-lowest ever score of 25 all out on their way to an innings defeat. The next game against Cambridge University was a happier affair, as Gifford took ten wickets in the match, including a fine second-innings analysis of 15.5-7-18-6, to ensure that this time it was his team who won by an innings.

Gifford finished 1960 with 41 wickets at an average of 17.90, but this only hinted at the success he was to enjoy the following year. 1961 proved to be the most productive season of Gifford's career as he took 133 wickets, a feat which earned him a place in the International XI which toured Rhodesia and Pakistan that winter. He was again fairly successful in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, with 92 and 72 wickets respectively, and in 1962 was selected for the Players in their final match against the Gentlemen before the distinction between amateur and professional cricketers was abolished.

However, 1964 was to be the year when Gifford really broke through as he was selected for the Second Ashes Test at Lord's in June. Although the game was ruined by rain, with no play at all possible on the first two days, Gifford had time to impress, returning miserly analyses of 12-6-14-2 in the first innings and 17-9-17-1 in the second. He was retained for the Third Test at Headingley, but took only two wickets as Australia recorded a comfortable win. When the England selectors made wholesale changes to the England bowling attack for the fourth match at Old Trafford Gifford lost his place in the side, a place he was not to regain for seven years, overlooked in favour of first Tony Lock and later Derek Underwood.

England's loss, however, was Worcestershire's gain, and they not only won the County Championship that year, but retained their title in 1965. Gifford was instrumental in these successes, and although he reached 100 wickets only in 1964, between 1963 and 1968 he averaged under 20 with the ball every season, sometimes restricting opponents to less than one run per over. 1968 also brought him his career-best bowling figures, when he took 8-28 (albeit in a losing cause) against Yorkshire in July.

Gifford was finally recalled to the England team in 1971 in favour of Underwood for the Second Test against the Pakistanis, and when a marathon 53-over spell cost just 69 runs in the Third Test his place looked secure, eight wickets in the next game against India seeming to reinforce this notion. However, injury struck and again he lost his place to Underwood, Ron Headley standing in for Gifford as captain of Worcestershire.

Gifford was in and out of the England team over the next couple of years, and played in the same side as Underwood only twice, on the 1972/73 tour of the subcontinent. He played two more Tests against New Zealand the following summer, but thereafter the selectors' minds turned decisively towards Underwood and Gifford never played Test cricket again. He contented himself with consistent displays in county cricket, leading Worcestershire to another County Championship triumph in 1974, for which he was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Latterly he played for Worcestershire's great rivals Warwickshire, whom he joined for the 1983 season. That year he took 104 first-class wickets, the final time he was to reach the 100 mark.

Extraordinarily, however, Gifford's England career was not quite over, for he made his One-day International debut - as captain - at the age of 44 in the 1984/85 Rothmans Four-Nations Cup contest in Sharjah. England lost both their matches, against Australia and Pakistan, but Gifford showed that he still had the ability in the second game when he took 4-23 including the prize wicket of Imran Khan for a first-ball duck. Despite this performance, however, these two games proved to be the extent of Gifford's brief ODI career.

Gifford continued to play for Warwickshire into his late forties, and when he finally retired from playing at the age of 48 in 1988, he had taken 2,068 first-class wickets. The reduction in the amount of first-class cricket played in recent years means that he is almost certain to remain the last man to have broken the 2,000 mark. Never much of a batsman, he made only three half-centuries in more than 800 innings, his 7,000 runs coming at an average of just 13. After retirement, Gifford went into coaching and became coach of first Sussex and then Durham.

Contents

[edit] Teams

[edit] International

[edit] English county

[edit] Other first-class

  • DB Close's XI
  • England B
  • International Wanderers
  • International XI
  • MCC
  • Players
  • World XI

[edit] Career highlights

[edit] Tests

[edit] One-day internationals

  • ODI debut: vs Australia, Sharjah, 1984/85
  • Last ODI: vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 1984/85
    • Highest score: 0 vs Pakistan, Sharjah 1984/85
    • Best bowling: 4-23 vs Pakistan, Sharjah 1984/85
    • ODI captaincy record: 2 matches; 0 wins, 2 losses

[edit] First-class

[edit] List A Limited Overs

[edit] External link

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