Jason Gillespie
Encyclopedia
Jason Neil Gillespie is an Australian cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er who formerly represented Australia at international level, in both Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

s and One Day Internationals, and South Australia
Southern Redbacks
The South Australia cricket team, nicknamed the Southern Redbacks and known as the West End Redbacks due to their sponsorship agreement with local brewers West End, are an Australian first class cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia, and represent the state of South Australia...

, Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

 and Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

 at first-class level. His primary role is as a right-arm fast-medium bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...

, but he is also a competent lower-order batsman. He made his Test debut against the West Indies at Sydney
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

 in 1996 and his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cricket team
The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation...

 at Colombo
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground
The Sinhalese Sports Club is one of the most famous cricket grounds in Sri Lanka. It is theheadquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket, the controlling body of cricket in Sri Lanka. The Ground often cited as the Lord's of Sri Lanka, hosting most domestic finals and one of preeminent international cricket...

 in the Singer World Series in 1996. On 29 February 2008, Gillespie announced his retirement from first-class cricket in Australia and then played for a period in the unauthorised Indian Cricket League
Indian Cricket League
The Indian Cricket League was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India...

 for the Ahmedabad Rockets
Ahmedabad Rockets
Ahmedabad Rockets was one of the nine teams played in the defunct Indian Cricket League. The captain is former Australian international batsman Damien Martyn...

. At the end of the 2008 English domestic season he retired from all first-class cricket.

Biography

Jason Gillespie is a descendant on his father's side of the Kamilaroi
Kamilaroi
The Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay are an Indigenous Australian people who are from the area between Tamworth and Goondiwindi, and west to Narrabri, Walgett and Lightning Ridge, in northern New South Wales...

 people of Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

, and is the first acknowledged Aboriginal person to become a Test cricketer. His mother has Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 heritage. Jason married Anna (née McEvoy) in 2003. The couple have 2 children, Jackson (born February 2006) and Brandon (born October 2007) http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:0D0LueTdiDMJ:www.users.bigpond.com/lnord/McEvoys.html+anna+mcevoy+gillespie&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a.
Gillespie also has a daughter, Sapphire (born March 1995) from a previous relationship. http://aussiebubblog.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/another-son-arrives-for-jason-anna-gillespie/.

Bowling

Gillespie took 259 wickets in 71 Tests (at an average of 26.13) making him Australia's sixth-highest wicket-taker and giving him the 14th best bowling average for Australian bowlers who have taken more than a hundred wickets.

In terms of pace, he bowled in the mid 140s-150 km/h mark in his early career up to about 2001. When he made his comeback in the 2000/01 season, he bowled more consistently, but at a speed of about mid-130s-low-140s in terms of kilometres per hour. Consistent injuries have forced Gillespie to operate from a shorter run-up and therefore reduce his pace.

Gillespie seldom dominated a Test series (the most wickets he took in a series is 20), but he was a reliable support bowler over several years for his more famous teammates Glenn McGrath
Glenn McGrath
Glenn Donald McGrath AM , nicknamed "Pigeon", is a former Australian cricket player. He is one of the most highly regarded fast-medium pace bowlers in cricketing history, and a leading contributor to Australia's domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the early 21st century...

 and Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...

. However, Gillespie's career suffered an unexpectedly sharp decline. In early 2005, there were some signs that he was struggling, with somewhat poor displays against New Zealand
New Zealand cricket team
The New Zealand cricket team, nicknamed the Black Caps, are the national cricket team representing New Zealand. They played their first in 1930 against England in Christchurch, New Zealand, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. It took the team until 1955–56 to win a Test, against the...

, but he was still considered Australia's leading fast-bowling partner for McGrath. This poor form continued into the 2005 Ashes series
2005 Ashes series
The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

 where he struggled badly, taking just three wickets at a cost of 300 runs and, as a result, was dropped after the third Test.

After the Ashes series Gillespie took 40 wickets for South Australia during the 2005/06 Pura Cup Season. He was the fourth-highest wicket taker in the competition, with an average (21.27) far below the other leading wicket takers. His best figures came against Victoria where he took 7-35. These performances saw him make a return to the Australian Test side against Bangladesh
Bangladeshi cricket team
The Bangladesh national cricket team is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board . Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status...

 after injury problems to the first choice attack. Gillespie was named man of the series after taking 8 wickets and making a double century in the two Tests but was never selected to play for Australia again.

Batting

Gillespie has occasionally proved his worth with the bat, with a highest Test score of 201 not out and an average of 18.73. He is the only player in Test cricket with a career batting average of less than 20 to reach 200 runs in an innings. He demonstrates a solid defensive game, known amongst team-mates as 'The Walking Forward Defence', and despite not regularly making big scores, he is a difficult batsman to dismiss and occupies the crease substantial periods of time, allowing his batting partner time to get a big score.

He has a one-day international high of 44 not out and he averages 12.56 in one-day internationals with an impressive strike rate of 78.53.

In the second Test match against Bangladesh
Bangladeshi cricket team
The Bangladesh national cricket team is a national cricket team representing Bangladesh. The team is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board . Bangladesh is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and One Day International status...

 at Chittagong on 9 April 2006, Jason Gillespie (201 not out) set the world record (on his 31st birthday) for the highest individual score by a night watchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...

. This was Gillespie's maiden first-class century. Gillespie also shared a 4th wicket partnership of 320 runs with Michael Hussey
Michael Hussey
Michael Edward Killeen Hussey is an Australian cricketer, a left-handed specialist batsman. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname Mr Cricket. Hussey was a relative latecomer to both the one-day international and Test Australian teams, debuting at 28 and 30 years of age in the respective...

. Gillespie was awarded man-of-the-match honors for his double-century in the first innings, and he was also named man of the series for his efforts that included eight wickets, at an average of 11.25, across the two Tests.

Gillespie made his first domestic first-class century exactly a year later on his 32nd birthday in a County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

 match versus Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

 at The Oval
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...

 whilst playing for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

. He hit an unbeaten 123 and in doing so, alongside Tim Bresnan
Tim Bresnan
Timothy 'Tim' Thomas Bresnan is an English cricketer. He is a fast-medium bowler, as well as being respected for his ability with the bat for Yorkshire. He normally fields in the deep. He won the NBC Denis Compton Award in 2002 and 2003. In June 2006 he was called up to the England One Day...

, set a record ninth-wicket partnership for Yorkshire. The pair put on 246 before Bresnan was stumped off the bowling of Nayan Doshi
Nayan Doshi
Nayan Dilip Doshi is an English cricketer, who was released by Derbyshire. He is the son of Dilip Doshi, who is a former Indian Test bowler...

. Gillespie's 123 not out was also the highest score for Yorkshire by a number 10 batsman.

Gillespie made his first Australian domestic century in a Pura Cup match in the 2007/08 season against Tasmania
Tasmanian Tigers
The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...

. He put on a 250-run partnership with the South Australian wicketkeeper Graham Manou
Graham Manou
Graham Allan Manou is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Southern Redbacks in Australian domestic cricket. He is a wicket-keeper and aggressive right-handed batsman who has taken more dismissals than any other South Australian player in One Day domestic cricket.Manou was a successful junior...

, who made 190. Gillespie remained 118 not out when the innings came to a close.

Injuries

Throughout his career, Gillespie has had bad luck with injuries, suffering from foot injuries, stress fractures in the back, hip twinges, side-strains, shoulders, torn calves, aching hamstrings, groin complaints and a broken right leg. He played only 52 from a possible 92 Tests following his debut to his axing during the 2005 Ashes series
2005 Ashes series
The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors...

. Despite these problems, he was still both accurate and economical.

In Australia's 1999 tour of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, he was involved in a sickening outfield collision when both he and Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...

 were running to take a catch. Waugh was running from the infield towards the outfield, while Gillespie was running in. Waugh dived for the ball resulting in his nose and Gillespie's right leg being broken. The catch was not taken.

Coaching

Gillespie became a coach in Zimbabwe in August 2010. He works primarily with the MidWest Rhinos, but he is also working on "grass roots" activities to improve the performance of young players in Zimbabwe.

Gillespie was drafted in as the bowling coach of IPL
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...

's team Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab is a cricket franchise based in Mohali, Punjab in the Indian Premier League. For the IPL3, an additional venue has been chosen at Dharamsala.-Franchise History:...

 after their opening match against Pune Warriors in April 2011.

External links

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