Gibbs bolsters Yorkshire t20 ranks

Herschelle Gibbs earns himself a place in the history books by hitting six sixes in an over during the 2007 World Cup

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Yorkshire have announced the signing of Herschelle Gibbs as their second overseas player for the Friends Provident t20.

The explosive batsman, South Africa’s second highest run-scorer in one-day internationals, will play solely in the new-look 20-over competition after performing a similar role at Glamorgan in the last two seasons.

With counties allowed to field two overseas players in the revamped t20 this year, Gibbs is set to line up for Yorkshire alongside Ryan Harris, the Australia all-rounder who will spend the majority of the summer at Headingley Carnegie.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing cricket in the UK and have very good memories of Headingley as I got my first World Cup hundred there in 1999,” Gibbs told Yorkshire Radio.

“I’m really looking forward to playing over there and I’ll hopefully help to lead the troops towards some sort of success.

"I hope we’ll have some good weather and we can treat the home spectators to some very entertaining cricket.”

Gibbs, who turns 36 tomorrow, has played 20 Twenty20 internationals for South Africa and has also scored 8,087 runs at an average of 36.26 in 246 ODIs.

Famed for his aggressive strokeplay at the top of the order, he smashed 175 off 111 balls as South Africa successfully chased an improbable 435 to beat Australia in Johannesburg in 2006, and hit six sixes in a Daan van Bunge over during the 2007 World Cup. He is also regarded as one of the best fielders in the world.

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket, added: “Herschelle will add power, runs and experience to our batting line-up in this year’s t20 competition and he is also a fine fielder.

“He’s a vastly experienced international cricketer with the ability to win matches on his own if he hits his best form.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him play for Yorkshire this year and I’m sure our members and supporters will enjoy Herschelle’s style of cricket too.”

Yorkshire get their t20 campaign under way against Durham at Headingley on June 10.