Herchelle would like to have his old job back

[Wanderer]

Gibbs says he'd love to return to his opening berth...And he says he'll use this tour to Sri Lanka to try and convince the selectors that he should return to opening the batting.

Statistics prove that Gibbs has a point. He has made 4 907 of his 5 599 test runs as an opener. In 101 innings as an opener, he averaged 51.11 runs. But when he went in at No 3 or lower he scored only 23.87 per innings.

He says with Ashwell Prince finding his feet in international cricket during the past year or so and Hashim Amla showing incredible potential, he doesn't think it is necessary to have him in the middle order any longer.

If one thing on this tour, SA needs a good start desperately...

[John]

Originally Posted by Wanderer

Gibbs says he'd love to return to his opening berth...And he says he'll use this tour to Sri Lanka to try and convince the selectors that he should return to opening the batting.

Gibbs to open that looks about right. Especially as Smith hasn't been playing well. In fact Smith should drop down the order.

[Wanderer]

Gibbs is probably feeling the pressure at the moment...A lot of people in SA calling for his head. And if he doesn't pull off a big one in the second and last test against Sri Lanka starting tomorrow, the SA selectors may just run out of patience with him..
He last made a century (169) against England at the Wanderers in early 2005 and since then has played 24 Test innings - which have included a 98, 94 and 84 - but not much besides. He's made 583 runs at an average 26.5.

More concerning though,is the fact that he's been bowled 50% of the time - not a good thing to happen to an opening batsman.

[Sidewinder]

Yep I think that Gibbs has got to be worried that he doesn't know where his off stump is. If he wants to get his old job back he's gotta tighten up on defence. As the old-fashioned cricketers would say "An opening bat should be there long enough to see off the opening bowlers & the shine of the ball". Sure, cricket is not played that way anymore with 300 being scored in a day, run rates of over 4's & opening batsmen going beserk (Langer & Hayden) but we see modern day batsmen mixing attack with good, solid DEFENCE

[Willow & Stumpy]

Put Gibbsy back up there man and let him do what he likes doing...standing up tall and smacking the bowlers around the park. Gibbs is definetly at his best when he is attacking and when he is attacking the rest of the team tend to do well. For example remember when SA broke the World Record chasing down Australia's mammoth total? Gibbs got them on their way with a Gibbs' style attacking hundred and the rest of the team lead on from there.