Gary Kirsten

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Gary Kirsten
South Africa
Personal information
Batting style	Left-handed batsman
Bowling style	Right-arm offbreak
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	101	185
Runs scored	7289	6798
Batting average	45.27	40.95
100s/50s	21/34	13/45
Top score	275	188*
Overs	58.1	5
Wickets	2	-
Bowling average	71.00	-
5 wickets in innings	0	-
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	1/0	-
Catches/stumpings	83/-	61/1
As of 8 November 2005 Source: Cricinfo

Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967 in Cape Town) is a former South African cricketer, and opening batsman. He played 101 Test matches for his country. His half brother Peter, also played cricket for SA and was a member of the South African World Cup team in 1992. His brother, Paul played provincial cricket as a wicket-keeper for Western Province.

Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1993. He retired from international cricket in 2004 after crafting a match-winning 76 in his final innings, against New Zealand.

Over the years, he gained a reputation as being a sturdy batsman in both Test cricket and one-day cricket. He could up the tempo of an innings if he needed to, but more often than not he simply waited for the bad ball, much like Steve Waugh and Justin Langer. He was also a reliable fielder.

Kirsten held the South African records for most runs and centuries in a Test career, before both were surpassed by Jacques Kallis. He made a score of 275 against England in 1999, which was another South African record until Graeme Smith made 277 against England in 2003. He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a one-day international; 188 not-out made against the United Arab Emirates during the 1996 World Cup, which is the fourth highest innings of all time in One-Day International cricket.

[edit] As Indian cricket team coach

After retirement, Kirsten organized his own cricket academy in Cape Town.^[1] In November 2007, it emerged that Kirsten was a candidate for the vacant post of Indian coach.^[2] The BCCI offered him a two-year contract for the post, and despite voicing reservations^[3] about concerns he had about having the full support of India players, he confirmed he would be taking the job on December 4th.^[4]

He would officially start as coach on March 1st, 2008. However, he traveled to Australia with India beforehand during the test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March-April 2008.

[edit] References

v • d • e South Africa squad - 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Cronje (c) • 2 Adams • 3 Cullinan • 4 de Villiers • 5 Donald • 6 Hudson • 7 Kallis • 8 Kirsten • 9 Matthews • 10 McMillan • 11 Palframan (wk) • 12 Pollock • 13 Rhodes • 14 Symcox

v • d • e South Africa squad - 1999 Cricket World Cup 1 Cronje (c) • 2 Benkenstein • 3 Boje • 4 Boucher (wk) • 5 Crookes • 6 Cullinan • 7 Dawson • 8 Donald • 9 Elworthy • 10 Gibbs • 11 Kallis • 12 Kirsten • 13 Klusener • 14 Pollock • 15 Rhodes Ntini was named in the original squad, but was replaced on 23 April 1999 by Dawson

v • d • e South Africa squad - 2003 Cricket World Cup 1 Pollock (c) • 2 Boucher • 3 Boje • 4 Dippenaar • 5 Donald • 6 Gibbs • 7 Hall • 8 Kallis • 9 Kirsten • 10 Klusener • 11 Langeveldt • 12 Ntini • 13 Peterson • 14 Rhodes • 15 Zondeki

Persondata
NAME	Kirsten, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Cricketer
DATE OF BIRTH	23 November 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH