18 Interesting facts about Gary Kirsten - The Cricketing Guru

From bashing the leather to the fence to putting a price on his wicket; Gary Kirsten has been phenomenal for South Africa. He lifted his country to great heights and yet stayed grounded on receiving laurels. From being the first South African to score centuries against all other Test playing nations, to notching up the highest score at the world cup; which stayed at the top for many years. As a coach, Kirsten had a successful tenure with India and South Africa respectively. Let’s have a look at some of the interesting facts about “Guru Gary”.

1. Born on:

Gary Kirsten was born on November 23, 1967, Cape Town, Cape Province. He studies at the University of Cape Town.

2. Cricketing connections:

His half brother Peter, also played provincial cricket for Western Province, and then later for the South Africa cricket team which included the eventful Cricket World Cup in 1992.

3. Major caps:

He represented South Africa at the international level and Western Province at the domestic level.

4. Domestic highs:

He has played 221 first-class matches, scoring 16670 runs at an average of 48.31. Gary had notched up 46 centuries and 79 half centuries. He has also grabbed onto 171 catches at the first-class level.

5. Cracking the timber:

Interestingly, Gary Kirsten had also scalped 20 wickets at the domestic level at an economy of 2.90.

6. Coloured call up:

He made his ODI debut against Australia at Sydney, December 14, 1993. He played 185 games for South Africa, scoring 6798 runs at an average of 40.95 and a strike rate of  72.04. Kirsten has scored 13 centuries and 45 fifties to his credit, along with a career best of 188 against the United Arab Emirates.

7. Big match player:

He still holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International; 188 not out made against the UAE during the 1996 World Cup.

8. Safe hands:

He has taken 144 catches in international cricket and also has a stumping to his credit.

9. Rich history:

He had made history by becoming the first-ever Protea to play in 100 Test matches.

10. Leading from the front:

He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other 9 Test playing nations.

11. In the whites:

In 101 Test matches, Kirsten has scored 7289 runs at an average of 45.27. He has notched up 21 centuries and 34 half-centuries for South Africa.

12. Bidding goodbye:

He played his last Test match against New Zealand at Wellington, Mar 26-30, 2004.

13. Nurturing from the grassroots:

After retirement, Kirsten started with his own cricket academy.

14. Indian coach:

He officially started as the coach on 1st March 2008. However, he travelled to Australia with India beforehand during the Test series. His first full series in charge was against his home country, South Africa in March–April 2008 which was drawn 1–1.

Also, he coached India to the finals of the Kitply Cup and 2008 Asia Cup (India lost both the finals). During his tenure as coach of India, the Indian cricket team won a home series against Australia beating them 2–0. Apart from clinching the Border-Gavaskar trophy, he also coached them during their first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka and India’s first Test and One-Day International series victories against New Zealand in New Zealand after 40 years. India also won the Compaq Cup, defeating Sri Lanka in the finals on 14 September 2009 by 46 runs.

15. Ending on a high:

Kirsten ended his tenure as coach after India won the Cricket World Cup 2011 defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets and 10 balls to spare on 2nd April 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.

16. Back to his roots:

On 5the June 2011, Kirsten was appointed the full-time coach of the South Africa national cricket team for a term period of two years.

17. Some serious business:

In 2007, Kirsten joined Paddy Upton and Dale Williams to form a company called Performance Zone. They focussed on fitness and on-field performance of the players.

18. Ramping records:

Kirsten is the first South African batsman to score 20 Test match centuries. He is also the first cricketer from South Africa to reach the milestone of 5000 Test runs.