Gary Kirsten

South Africa|Opening Batter
Gary Kirsten
INTL CAREER: 1993 - 2004
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Full Name

Gary Kirsten

Born

November 23, 1967, Cape Town, Cape Province

Age

56y 117d

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Opening Batter

Education

Rondebosch BHS; University of Cape Town

RELATIONS

(father),

(brother),

(half-brother),

(half-brother)

Other

Coach

Gary Kirsten was never blessed with the flair and the almost pure technique of his half-brother Peter, but his discipline, temperament and his penchant for hard work stood out during his days as South Africa's opener. Then, all those virtues brought him rich rewards after his playing days too, as he became one of the most successful and popular coaches of India. The side went to the top of the Test rankings during his stint, which ended, quite fittingly, with a World Cup triumph in 2011.

As a batter, he had the determination, the ability to concentrate for long periods, and a burning desire to score runs. A left-hander with a relatively unique technique, Kirsten simply worked out his strengths and weaknesses and based his game around them. Calm and level-headed, he brought a healthy degree of common sense to the art of batting. Periodically, he endured patches when he persistently got out in similar fashion, but he worked through the problem, made the adjustments and played himself back into form.

He enjoyed particular success on the subcontinent, averaging 53.85 with four hundreds and seven half-centuries in 13 Tests in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

His best of 275, a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on against England at Kingsmead in 1999-00, was the second-longest in Test history. He then returned to haunt England in 2003 and gutsed out a crucial 130 in the Headingley Test, which South Africa won by 191 runs. His good form persuaded him to postpone his retirement until the end of the New Zealand tour in March 2004. Fittingly, he made a century in Hamilton - his 99th Test - and scored a typically gritty 76 in his final game to help South Africa tie the series.

After retiring, he spent some time with Warriors as a consultant batting coach and, in 2006, set up his own academy in Cape Town. In December 2007, he signed up as coach of India, and took them to No. 1 in Test cricket and World Cup success in 2011. After that he moved on to see if he could repeat the magic with his home country. While the global title didn't come, he did firmly establish South Africa as the No. 1 team in Tests. The highlights of his time with them were away series wins against England and then Australia in the latter half of 2012. He later coached in the IPL and other T20 leagues around the world.

Gary Kirsten Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests10117615728927545.271678343.43213492212830
ODIs185185196798188*40.95943672.04134565920611
FC221387421667027548.31--4679--1710
List A294289279586188*36.58--1858--971

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests1011534914221/01/071.002.44174.5000
ODIs185330230---4.60-000
FC221-1727836206/68-41.802.9086.3-10
List A294-13811231/251/2537.334.8646.0000
Gary Kirsten

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Photos of Gary Kirsten

Gary Kirsten and Rahul Tewatia partake in a discussion
Gary Kirsten and Josh Cobb oversaw a winless season
Hardik Pandya, Alzarri Joseph and Gary Kirsten celebrate the win
Gary Kirsten, Vikram Solanki and Ashish Nehra at the Gujarat Titans table
Gary Kirsten interacts with the media
Former South African opening batsman Gary Kirsten is named as head coach of Welsh Fire for the Hundred