George Giffen

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George Giffen
Australia
Personal information
Full name	George Giffen
Born	27 March 1859(1859-03-27)
	Norwood, South Australia, Australia
Died	29 November 1927 (aged 68)
	Parkside, South Australia, Australia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Role	All-rounder
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Right-arm off spin
Test debut (cap 27)	31 December 1881: v England
Last Test	10 August 1896: v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1877–1903	South Australia
Career statistics
	Tests	FC
Matches	31	251
Runs scored	1238	11758
Batting average	23.35	29.54
100s/50s	1/6	18/54
Top score	161	271
Balls bowled	6391	46610
Wickets	103	1023
Bowling average	27.09	21.29
5 wickets in innings	7	95
10 wickets in match	1	30
Best bowling	7/117	10/66
Catches/stumpings	24/0	195/0
As of 7 March 2008 Source: CricketArchive

The Australian team during the summer of 1894–95. George Giffen, as captain, is centre in the middle row.

George Giffen (27 March 1859 – 29 November 1927) was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. An all-rounder who batted in the middle order and often opened the bowling with medium-paced off-spin, Giffen captained Australia during the 1894–95 Ashes series and was the first Australian to score 10,000 runs and take 500 wickets in first-class cricket. He was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on 26 February 2008.

[edit] Early life and career

Giffen was born in the Adelaide neighbourhood of Norwood in 1859 to Richard Giffen, a carpenter and his wife Elizabeth (née Challand).^[1] He played cricket with enthusiasm as a boy and attracted the notice of two brothers, Charles and James Gooden, who coached him.^{[citation needed]} He started his cricket career with Norwood Cricket Club, later moving to the West Adelaide club.^[2]

Early in 1877 he played for South Australia against a visiting East Melbourne team making 16 and 14, the highest score in each innings, but South Australian cricket was then much below the standard of the two eastern colonies.^{[citation needed]} In November 1877 he made his first-class cricket debut against Tasmania. Giffen made 47 runs and took 4 wickets for 16 runs in the Tasmanian first innings. Tasmania was forced to follow-on (bat twice in a row) and in the second innings Giffen managed to capture another 2 wickets.^[3] It was not until November 1880 that the first regular match between South Australia and Victoria took place at Melbourne. Giffen made 3 and 63 and took two wickets for 47 in the first innings. He became a regular member of the South Australian team and although he took a few seasons to develop his full powers, if he failed as a bat he usually made up for it with a good bowling performance.

Giffen also played Australian rules football at a high level, representing the Norwood Football Club for whom he is credited as kicking their first ever goal in the South Australian Football Association.^{[citation needed]} "He would cap brilliant runs that paralysed all opposition with superb kicks, turning in a moment the whole tide of play.", an observer at the time said.^[4]

[edit] Test cricket

He played his first Test in 1881 when only 22 years old. He appeared in 31 Tests in all, a huge amount for his era. In all he scored 1238 runs and took 103 wickets.

George Giffen's Test career batting graph.

His first class performances include many achievements. Nine times he scored a century and took 10 wickets in the one match. Twice he scored a century and took more than a dozen wickets. No other cricketer in the world has ever done it. He is the only bowler in the world to snare 16 wickets in a match five times. He was the first to take 17. When he was 24 he became the first bowler outside England to get a whole side out with 10-66. He is also the first Australian to take 1000 first-class wickets and score 10000 runs.

Giffen's best figures were 271 runs and 16 wickets (9/96 and 7/70) for the match for South Australia vs. Victoria in 1891. In all he scored 18 first-class centuries, 4 of them doubles.

Giffen also performed well in English conditions. On each of his five tours he topped both the batting and bowling overall tour averages, yet another unique Giffen feat. The great all rounder led Australia in four of the five Tests during 1894 tour. His 34 Test wickets was a series record at that time and he also scored the most runs for that series. Giffen played his last Test in 1896 but remained a force at the first-class level for some time, at the age of 41 he captured 13 English wickets to steer South Australia to a victory over the tourists. Three years later he finished his career with scores of 81, 97 not out and 15 wickets (7/75 and 8/110) against Victoria.

[edit] Style and legacy

Giffen was a robust batsman noted for his driving he also had a fine cut and glance. A slow to medium pace bowler he was brilliant with his deceptive off spin and the master in flight and changes of pace which he took many wickets.

George though has often been accused of more than a sprinkling of nepotism, using his influence to try and help his brother Walter Giffen. Walter played Test cricket for Australia despite below average performances for South Australia and when George was named Captain of the 1894 tour Walter having made 11 runs in his three Tests to date and a poor domestic season was also named, many believing because of George’s influence over the selection.

George Giffen has a grandstand at the Adelaide Oval named after him. He died in Parkside, South Australia. In 2008 he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame^[5]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Giffen, George". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 
• Pollard, Jack (1988). Australian Cricket: The game and the players. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0 207 15269 1. 
• Robinson, Ray; Haigh, Gideon (1996). On top down under: Australia's cricket captains (revised edition). Adelaide: Wakefield. ISBN 1 86254 387 9. 

[edit] External links

• Cricinfo Article on George Giffen