Gary Gilmour

Gary Gilmour

Personal information
Batting style	Left-hand bat
Bowling style	Left-arm fast-medium
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs Matches 15 5 Runs scored 483 42 Batting average 23.00 42.00 100s/50s 1/3 -/- Top score 101 28* Balls bowled 2661 320 Wickets 54 16 Bowling average 26.03 10.31 5 wickets in innings 3 2 10 wickets in match – n/a Best bowling 6/85 6/14 Catches/stumpings 8/- 2/-
Source: , 12 December 2005

Gary John Gilmour (born 26 June 1951 in Waratah, New South Wales) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 15 Tests and 5 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1973 to 1977.

At the peak of his career, Gilmour combined spectacular, free-hitting batting with penetrative left-arm swing bowling and the ability to hang on to a blinding catch in the slips cordon. He earned comparisons with the great Alan Davidson.^[1]

Early life and education

Gary John Gilmour was born 26 June 1951 in the Newcastle suburb of Waratah. He attended Waratah Primary School^[2] and Newcastle Boys High School.^[3] He was awarded two "Blues" by the New South Wales Combined High Schools Sports Association: in 1967 (Baseball) and 1969 (Cricket).^[4]

Cricketer

A score of 122 on his debut for New South Wales in January 1972, first caught the eye of the Australian selectors, who weren't afraid to blood him at age 22 during an "experimental" season.

Gilmour's Test debut consisted of 52 runs and 4 for 75 in a big win over New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. However, he appeared in only two of the next five Tests, as Australia rotated through a number of players with an eye on the Ashes series later in the year. Gilmour gave them something to ponder with seven wickets in a Test at Auckland, which included 5 for 64 in the first innings to set up a series-tying victory.

1975 World Cup

Competition for fast bowling places in the Australian team was intense at this time. Gilmour wasn't selected for the 1974–75 Ashes series, but reappeared in green and gold when selected for the 1975 England tour, which included the inaugural World Cup. The Australians, inexperienced at one-day cricket, adopted a casual yet aggressive approach, often employing a full slips cordon for their opening bowlers. Gilmour was twelfth man in the early stages of the tournament, but selected for the semi final against England at Headingley. On a day tailor-made for his style of bowling, he finished with 12 overs, six for 14, thus bowling out the opposition for 93. This was the first time that a bowler had taken six wickets in an ODI, and remained the best ODI bowling performance until Winston Davis claimed 7–51 in the 1983 competition.^[5]

With the Australians almost defeated at 6 for 39 in reply, Gilmour thrashed 28 not out to push his team into the final. Although Australia lost the final to West Indies, Gilmour bagged another five wickets.

In the following Ashes series, Gilmour was called on only at Headingley, partly because of his World Cup effort there. He bagged 6 for 85 in the first innings, three more in the second innings, yet was dropped for the last Test.

Career from 1975–76

In 1975–76, Gilmour raised prospects that he was about to realise his potential. Playing five of the six Tests against the West Indies, Gilmour topped the bowling averages with 20 wickets at 20.3 and was given the new ball ahead of Dennis Lillee in Sydney. Although Gilmour's batting was still somewhat erratic, he thrashed 95 at Adelaide. The following summer against Pakistan, an injury to Jeff Thomson denuded the Australian attack, which was carried largely by Lillee, Gilmour delivering eight wickets in three Tests at 37.5. A brief tour to New Zealand followed, on which it became clear that Gilmour was struggling with a leg injury. His batting, hitherto unremarkable, won him a place in the record books in the first Test at Christchurch. Gilmour hit his only Test century, 101 in 146 balls and 187 minutes, combining with Doug Walters for an Australian record seventh-wicket partnership of 217. But Gilmour's powers as a bowler ebbed dramatically, so much so that he bowled only nine inconsequential overs in the Centenary Test at Melbourne in March 1977. The debilitating foot injury was a handicap: it turned out to be misdiagnosed; so was a light-hearted attitude to training and fitness that owed more to the 1950s than to the increasingly professional era of which he was part.

Manager

In 2009 he was appointed manager of the Newcastle representative cricket team.^[6]

Awards and honours

He has been made a member of Waratah Primary School's Hall of Fame.^[2]

In 2007, he was "named one of the best 30 players to have played one-day cricket for Australia".^[2]

In 2010, the new training nets at Lugar Park, Kotara were named in his honour.^[7]

Personal life

In 2005 he underwent a liver transplant.^[6]

His older brother, Greg "Sleepy" Gilmour was the main force behind the Hunter Jaegers joining the national netball league and played first-grade rugby union for Merewether-Carlton and Wanderers.^[8]

His three sons, Clint, Ben and Sam Gilmour and nephews, Mitch and Nathan Gilmour, all played cricket.^[9]

References

External links

• Whatever became of Gus Gilmour – article in The Age March, 2003

v t e Australia squad – 1975 Cricket World Cup Runners-Up 1 IM Chappell (c) 2 GS Chappell 3 Edwards 4 Gilmour 5 Lillee 6 McCosker 7 Mallett 8 Marsh (wk) 9 Thomson 10 Turner 11 Walker 12 Walters