His nibs Mr Gibbs

In the August issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly Luke Alfred meets South Africa's leading batsman, whose style earned him the title "mayor of Cape Town"

Herschelle Gibbs: his jolling credentials are legendary in Cape Town

No word in the English language captures the essence of Herschelle Gibbs quite as well as the humble Afrikaans word joller, from which spreads the verb, to jol. And what is a joller? He is part raver, part wideboy, part - and this is particularly appropriate in Gibbs's case - the loveable, endlessly indulged nutcase, the man with the comic depth of the Shakespearean fool.

Gibbs's jolling credentials are so legendary in Cape Town, his home city, that Graeme Smith, his captain and opening partner for province and country, has gone so far as to christen him the mayor of Cape Town. "We all know about Herschelle," Smith says with a knowing smile. "He likes to look good. He's got that wardrobe full of fabulous clothes, that lovely flat with the smart red sofa. I call him the mayor of Cape Town because he's bigger than the mayor of Cape Town. I wouldn't tell the mayor that, of course, but Herschelle is really big in Cape Town. He'll get into restaurants and clubs; doors just open for you when you're with him. Off the field he lives his life at 1,000 miles an hour."

Smith adds that Gibbs is exceptionally determined to do well in England, having had a good 1999 World Cup but never having played at Lord's and never having toured England for a Test series. "I don't intend to set any milestones but I am very excited about this tour," Gibbs says. "I thought I was maybe a little unlucky not to go on the last [South African] tour in 1998, but I didn't have a bad World Cup in 1999. And, ya, it's a new team, a new captain, everyone's very excited about the trip. Personally I just want to go out there and make runs. I had a very quiet tour of Bangladesh, so I have a chance to put that into perspective and to take my game to maybe another level. It's a big tour. It's probably as big as Australia. The whole schlep of being there for three months is not something that gets me down. I really just enjoy every minute of it."

The pleasure Gibbs gains from playing cricket is no idle boast. While others, such as Jacques Kallis, descended into moodiness during the World Cup, Gibbs was his usual insouciant self, blazing to a sweet century against New Zealand at the Wanderers and keeping South Africa in the hunt during their crucial match against Sri Lanka. Like many South African sportsmen of his generation he has witnessed more political fiddling and more trauma (the Hansie Cronje affair, that dropped catch off Steve Waugh in the World Cup Super Six at Headingley in 1999) to last him a lifetime. Unlike many colleagues, his cricket has remained blithely unaffected. Come rain or shine he will be gliding that trademark drive of his through the covers.

He even seems comparatively unaffected by his new-found status in the side, having moved seamlessly from rookie to senior professional in the blink of an eye. Is he conscious, for example, that he now plays the senior role to Smith, his significantly younger opening partner, even though Smith is now captain? "Not entirely," he says. "I haven't really changed my approach to the game. The responsibility of being one of the senior players isn't something I've thought about because I don't act like I'm one of the senior guys. I'm a firm believer that God made everybody equal. I've never allowed the responsibility of being one of the senior guys to affect me. I obviously give advice to the youngsters and we've obviously got a good relationship as far as the new batters are concerned.

"Mentally I see a lot of similarities between Gary [Kirsten] and Graeme. They're very strong mentally. But, ya, Graeme likes to attack the ball and so do I. We've got a nice understanding. It's very similar to the one that I had with Gary. We don't make the game too complicated because opening the batting is probably the most difficult position to bat, so it's pointless making it too complicated and discussing it too much. I just let him play his game and he allows me to play mine."

For a blaster in the Michael Slater mould, Gibbs has tightened his game up considerably since Alan Mullally bowled him through the gate for 85 at the Wanderers during the first Test of the 1999-2000 series. The five Tests Gibbs played in that series (203 runs at 29.00) are the only ones he has appeared in against England and he acknowledges that there is room for improvement. This time round the England bowlers are likely to find a player who parades a sounder defensive technique and is ready to graduate from being eye-catching to making a durable reputation. At the moment Gibbs has scored just over 3,000 Test runs at 43.76. Should he play in all five Tests in England he will complete the tour on 50 Tests - a natural time to assess his contribution and weigh his figures.

"In order to become a world-class opening batter you need a sound technique and obviously I worked on a lot of it with Gary [Kirsten] and with Bob [Woolmer] for a little bit, and then with Fordie [ex-SA coach, Graham Ford]. My attacking ability was never in doubt, I always liked to hit the ball. It was just a matter of tightening up a bit on my defence. And, ya, I think in the last two years I've sorted my game out - how I'd like to play - and I've now got some really big scores under my belt. Obviously I still can be a bit more consistent but once you've sorted your game out you can take it to another level. That's exactly what I'd like to do on this tour."

For all of Gibbs's talent, a dim aura of underachievement loiters. Possibly this says more about the ridiculously high expectations of the South African sporting public than it does about Gibbs. Then again, Gibbs's reference to "another level" suggests that he realises that the bar can be raised. Ironically, given that much of his cricket has been played with the redoubtable Kirsten by his side, it could be Smith who pushes Gibbs into territories reserved for the select few.

Smith is more obviously demanding and passionate. The two combined in a first-wicket partnership of 368 against Pakistan at the beginning of January, Gibbs plundering 228, Smith 151. The two scored their runs in four balls short of 70 overs, significantly more than five an over and, although they were not able to repeat the achievement against Bangladesh in April and May, they might fuel one another's passion for excellence (and records) in a way that Kirsten and Gibbs never quite managed.

As for England, Gibbs says he is respectful, though he points out that two Test wins against a desperately weak Zimbabwe tell little about the strength - or otherwise - of the current team. "I think they're just as excited as we are," he says. "They have a nice balance of youth and experience, especially as far as their Test team is concerned. We go there as underdogs. I think that they are quite an under-rated team."

According to Gibbs, the South Africans are only too aware that on previous tours to England they were inspired at Lord's only to have spirits flag as the tour progressed. In 1998 they were not helped by an umpiring display of almost sublime ineptitude by Javed Akhtar at Headingley. Knowing all this, it is congruent for the mayor of Cape Town to let on that he would still prefer it if South Africa went hard at England early. Being Gibbs, he might have added that he was coming to England to jol. He did not but he is.