Gibbs on comeback trail

Herschelle Gibbs, the South African opening bat banned from international cricket for six months for his part in the Hansiegate scandal, will return to provincial cricket later this month when Western Province embark on a short pre-season tour.

WP will play Griquas in Kimberley on September 20 and 22 before moving on to Johannesburg to meet Gauteng on September 25, 26 and 27.

Gibbs was withdrawn from the South African squad to Sri Lanka in June following his admission at the King commission of inquiry that he had agreed to throw his wicket away in a one-day international against India. He has not played representative cricket since then, but will again become available for international selection from January 1 next year.

The WP squad will be captained by HD Ackerman and includes Neil Johnson, the former Zimbabwean all-rounder, and Paul Adams who was not selected for the ICC Knockout Trophy in Kenya next month.

The squad is: Herschelle Gibbs, Brian McMillan, Neil Johnson, HD Ackerman, Lloyd Ferreira, Andrew Puttick, Rashaad Magiet, Renier Munnik, Alan Dawson, Thamie Tsolekile, Paul Adams, Claude Henderson, Antonio Mullins, Albert Nkomo and Ryan Joffe.