Herschelle Gibbs appointed the head coach of APL team Balkh Legends

Former South African opener Herschelle Gibbs continues to grab coaching assignments as he has now been roped in as the head coach of the Balkh Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL). Gibbs, 44, coached Kuwait last year during the International Cricket Council (ICC) World T20 sub-regional qualifiers as well as the Rajputs in T10 League.

Gibbs is one of the best batsmen South Africa has produced and his dropping a catch of Steve Waugh and the latter’s remark after that during the 1999 World Cup has become a legend. The dashing right-handed batsman also had his moment against the same opponents when he slammed 175 to help his side chase down a target of 400-plus in an ODI in 2006, scripting history.

It brings great pleasure and excitement to announce @hershybru as head coach of the Balkh Legends in the @APLT20official. pic.twitter.com/6STftQMbLN

— Fine Edge Cricket (@FineEdgeCricket) September 19, 2018

Gibbs also had a grey phase in his career when his name had surfaced during a match-fixing scandal during South Africa’s tour of India in 2000. But the talented batsman continued to impress with his bat in a career spanning 14 years in which he scored more than 14,000 runs in 90 Tests, 248 ODIs and 23 T20Is. Gibbs came in the headlines in February this year over his Twitter spat with Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Other South Africans in APL

Gibbs’ involvement with the APL will certainly add more to the appeal of the tournament which is making its debut next month. South Africa will have more links with the APL in the forms of Colin Ingram, Cameron Delport and Wayne Parnell who are set to compete in the competition. While the Kabul-based franchise bought Parnell and Ingram for R(Rand)450,000 and R750,000, respectively, Paktia picked Delport for R750,000.

“There will be a total of 23 matches between five teams,” Afghanistan Cricket Board chief executive Shafiq Stanikzai was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo earlier in 2018.

“The league will take place in the UAE, but we haven’t yet decided on which cities will play host to the league. But now we have got official approval from the Emirates Cricket Board, and we’d like to thank them for that. It should be a really good competition and we are excited.”

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