No spinner in Herschelle Gibbs’ all-time South Africa Test and ODI XI

Herschelle Gibbs, the former South African cricketer, picked his all-time greatest South Africa Test and ODI eleven. He replied to one of the fans after being asked about the same and also cleared the queries of few other users on Twitter. To start with he named Graeme Smith and Gary Kirsten as his openers. Smith ended his career with Test 9,253 runs and also was one of their leading captains.

Smith also had 27 centuries to his name in his glorious career. Kirsten, on the other hand, averaged in the mid-40s throughout his career and was a bedrock of their batting. At number three, Gibbs went for Hashim Amla, who hung his boots from international cricket last year. Like Smith, even he finished with over 9,000 career Test runs. Gibbs went for Jacques Kallis for the number four slot.

Herschelle Gibbs picks a strong eleven

Kallis is currently South Africa’s leading run-scorer with 13,206 runs with 45 tons and 58 half-centuries. He also has 572 wickets in his career. There’s very little doubt that Kallis is one of the greatest all-rounders to have graced the game. Daryl Cullinan was Gibbs’ next choice as the specialist batsman. At number six, Herschelle went for the dynamic and talented AB de Villiers.

ABD has the fastest ODI century off 31 balls to his name and there’s no stopping him when in full flow. Mark Boucher, whose career came to an end after being hit under the eyes, was Gibbs’ choice as the wicket-keeper. In the bowling department, he picked three right-arm pacers- Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and Allan Donald. Pollock ended his career with 823 wickets with 21 five-wicket hauls.

Steyn, on the other hand, is second in the all-time list with 697 wickets from 263 matches. Last year, he retired from Test cricket, but is still a part of the national ODI and T20I teams. Donald was ferocious and ruffled quite a few feathers. He ended his journey with 602 wickets. Gibbs also went for Brett Schultz, who played in the early 1990s. The left-armer picked 38 wickets for the Proteas.

Here is Gibbs’ XI

Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Daryl Cullinan, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Allan Donald, Brett Schultz