Cricket South Africa Terminates Herschelle Gibbs

Cricket South Africa Terminates Herschelle Gibbs

The former South African right-handed opener Herschelle Gibbs has been in the news for all the bad reasons recently. The latest blow to the batsman came when the South African cricket board terminated his national contract, ending his prospects of playing for the national side in future.

According to Cricket South Africa, the contract was terminated by mutual agreement. A source within the association said, “He violated his contract on various grounds, most employment contracts have a clause that the employee may not criticise the employer and there are many occasions where he did that."

On the other hand, Gibbs Lawyer claimed that the termination was not a mutual event and he was still waiting to have a meeting with Cricket South Africa on the matter.

In November, Gibbs irked the CSA by releasing an autobiography "To the Point", in which he made some startling revelations about the team’s sexual escapades and has accused fellow players Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and AB de Villiers of dictating the team. Gibbs has also criticised the former national coach Mickey Arthur of being controlled by this inner circle.

The claims in the autobiography unnerved the CSA and they started looking into the legal actions, which could be taken against the player for his disclosures. The book has received immense popularity in South Africa where it sold 15,000 copies in just five days.

Initially, Cricket South Africa refused to clarify whether Gibbs had violated his contract by criticising the team players and the management.

The Current South African captain Graeme Smith has shown his disappointment over the claims made by the opening batsman in his autobiography. However, the players have refrained from giving any statement against their former comrade.

The CSA has also refused to give statements supporting the claim that Gibbs’ contract was terminated because of the autobiography. “Because of the sensitivity of the matter as well as the confidentiality agreements signed between the parties, the matter is now closed and there will be no further comments from the parties concerned," said Gerald Majola, the CSA Chief Executive.

Gibbs expressed his desire to play the 2011 Cricket World Cup, but did not believe that he had a realistic chance of making the squad. Now, with the termination of his contract that seems impossible.

The 36-year-old made his Test debut on 27^th November 1996 against India. The prolific opener has scored 6,167 runs in the five-day format of the game. He made his ODI debut in the same year on October 3^rd against Kenya. He has scored 8,060 in 245 ODI outings. Gibbs has had an illustrious career playing for South Africa, both as a batsman and as a fielder.

Gibbs has been an integral part of the South African team since he made his international debut. He is one of the only three players in the history of ODI cricket to have scored centuries in three back-to-back innings.

Gibbs had an early dark period in his career when he was accused of being involved in match fixing along with fellow South African captain Hansie Cronje. This was perhaps the only difficult time that he had to suffer in his cricketing career.