Jason Gillespie

Jason Gillespie

Australia

Full name Jason Neil Gillespie
Born April 19, 1975, Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales
Current age 31 years 316 days
Major teams Australia, South Australia
Nickname Dizzy
Playing role Bowler
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Height 1.95 m
Education Cabra College, Adelaide

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	71	93	28	1218	201*	18.73	3810	31.96	1	2	146	8	27	0
ODIs	97	39	16	289	44*	12.56	368	78.53	0	0	16	6	10	0
Twenty20 Int.	1	1	0	24	24	24.00	18	133.33	0	0	4	0	0	0
First-class	152	203	49	2717	201*	17.64			1	7			58	0
List A	156	69	29	511	44*	12.77	753	67.86	0	0			21	0
Twenty20	10	2	0	27	24	13.50	22	122.72	0	0			1	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	71	14234	6770	259	7/37	9/80	26.13	2.85	54.95	8	8	0
ODIs	97	5144	3611	142	5/22	5/22	25.42	4.21	36.22	3	3	0
Twenty20 Int.	1	24	49	1	1/49	1/49	49.00	12.25	24.00	0	0	0
First-class	152	29335	13648	535	8/50		25.51	2.79	54.83		21	2
List A	156	8392	5826	217	5/22	5/22	26.84	4.16	38.67	6	3	0
Twenty20	10	211	277	10	2/29	2/29	27.70	7.87	21.10	0	0	0

Career statistic
Test debut	Australia v West Indies at Sydney - Nov 29-Dec 3, 1996
Last Test	Bangladesh v Australia at Chittagong (CDS) - Apr 16-20, 2006
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v Australia at Colombo (RPS) - Aug 30, 1996
Last ODI	England v Australia at The Oval - Jul 12, 2005
Only Twenty20 Int.	England v Australia at Southampton - Jun 13, 2005
First-class span	1994/95 - 2006/07
List A span	1994/95 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2005 - 2006

Notes

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2002

Profile

Jason Gillespie's bouncing mullet, hook nose and Spofforth-like glare were a pleasing constant in Australian pace attacks during the first half of the 2000s. It was a rare treat for Gillespie, who played only 52 of a possible 92 Tests after his 1996-97 debut thanks to an assortment of ailments: busted feet, stress fractures in the back, hip twinges, side-strains, dicky shoulders, torn calves, aching hamstrings, groin complaints and a broken right leg. Each time he recovered and until being dropped during the 2005 Ashes he had missed only two Tests since November 2002. Through it all, in partnership with Glenn McGrath, he blossomed into one half of Australia's most statistically successful opening pair ever.

But if McGrath's strength is his ability to make the ball do just enough, then Gillespie's flaw is his tendency for it to do too much. No other contemporary fast man elicits so many plays-and-misses. It explains, perhaps, along with his slightly samey length, why Gillespie has never quite imposed himself as Australia's No. 1 strike bowler. Nor has he truly dominated an opposition line-up; remarkably, the most wickets he has taken in a single series is 20. Operating from a shorter reconfigured run-up, he is not so consistently quick and in England Michael Vaughan treated Australia's fifth most successful bowler like a medium-pacer.

However, few Australian fast men can have owned such deep wells of tenacity. Gillespie bowls long spells in the hottest conditions - always uncomplainingly, and always with the seam upright and the ball jagging both ways - and he showed the trait again when he promised to return to the national team and memorably achieved his aim against Bangladesh. He collected eight wickets in the two-match series, taking his Test tally to 259 while McGrath, Kasprowicz and Tait were missing, but his unforgettable moment came over 574 minutes and 425 balls. His maiden century was a magnificent, unbeaten 201 that was easily the highest score by a nightwatchman.

He is popular with team-mates and bashful with the public. He watches wrestling, listens to heavy metal and celebrated his first Test fifty with a bat ride embellished from the movie Happy Gilmore. He was more restrained while clocking off unthinkable milestones at Chittagong and it was appropriate recognition for a hardy and valuable batting approach that has also produced two unbeaten half-centuries and a priceless 26, which sealed a hard-fought draw against India in 2004-05. The great-grandson of a Kamilaroi warrior, Gillespie occupies a significant niche in Australian history as the first acknowledged Aboriginal Test cricketer.