West Indies is known as the land of fearless batters and fast pace bowlers. At a time when Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall were terrifying the batter around the world. Lance Gibbs became a key member of the West Indian attack that made one of the most feared teams around the world.
The tall spinner was known to be relentless with his line and length. In his 79 Test matches Lance Gibbs picked 309 wickets. This made him the first-ever spinner to achieve this feat. Many West Indian skippers used Lance Gibbs as one of their main weapons.
Cousin’s brother Clive Lloyd also was a beneficiary of the skills that Lance Gibbs possessed. By the time he ended his career the tall spinner became a legend of the game who was admired and respected by many of his peers.
Here are the top 3 performances by Lance Gibbs in Test cricket
3- 6/29 vs Australia – Guyana -1965
One of the best bowling efforts by Lance Gibbs came against Australia during the 1965 game in Guyana. The home team batted first and scored 355 whereas Rohan Kanhai top scored 89. Australia were bowled out for 179 to give the home team a lead of 176 runs as Gibbs picked 3 wickets. The home team were all out for 180 giving Australia a target of 357 to win. Lance Gibbs first dismissed Bill Lawry for 22 then got Rob Cowper for 30. This was followed by the wickets for Norman O Neill, Brian Booth, Peter Philpott and Graham Mckenzie. Lance Gibbs ended with 9 wickets in the game.
2- 7/98 vs India – Mumbai -1974
The biggest moment for Lance Gibbs away from home came against India in Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. The visiting side batted first and scored 604 runs on the board as Clive Lloyd top-scored with 242. Roy Fredricks scored 121 while Alvin Kallicharan and Deryck Murray scored 98 and 91. Lance Gibbs picked 7/98 as India were all out for 406. Eknath Solkar scored 102 while Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, and Anshuman Gaekwad scored fifties. Gibbs got the wickets of Gavaskar, Prasanna, and Viswanath. The off-spinner also got the wickets of Gaekwad and Brijesh Patel. Karsan Ghavri and also then skipper Nawab of Pataudi. The visiting side then scored 205 in the 2nd innings to give India a target of 404 to win. India were all out for 202 with Gibbs picking 2 more wickets as Vanburn Holder got 6 wickets as the visiting side won by 201 runs.
1- 8/38 vs India – Barbados -1962
The best bowling figures of Lance Gibbs came against India during the 1962 home test in Barbados. India were bowled out for 258 as Gibbs picked 1/25 from 16 overs. The home team scored 475 to end with a huge lead of 217 runs. Sven Stayers picked 2 wickers as Lance Gibbs picked 8/38 from 53.3 overs as India were bowled out for 187 to win by an innings and 30 runs. His wickets that day included Dilip Sardesai for 60. The other wickets were that of Vijay Manjrekar for 51, Polly Umrigar for 10 and Nawab Pataudi for a duck. The other scalps were that of Chandu Borde, Farokh Engineer, Salim Durrani, and Ramakant Desai.
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