Alexander Peter Richard Gidman (born 22 June 1981) is an English cricket coach and former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler who played for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

Playing career

Gidman went to

Wycliffe College Wycliffe College () is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from ...

in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, where he became a talented cricketer playing for the first XI. Gidman worked his way through the youth ranks as a Gloucestershire player, starting in the Under-17s County Championship tournaments of 1997 and 1998. Gidman's first-class cricketing career began with limited overs cricket in 2001 in the C&G Trophy. He played his first County Championship match a year later, and while Gloucestershire failed to impress in that year's competition, they were promoted the following year, with Gidman establishing himself in the middle-order and averaging over 40 with the bat. Gidman was appointed England A captain for their 2003-04 tour to India, but had to leave the tour with a hand injury before he played a game. Gloucestershire finished in mid-table that year, with Gidman scoring 869 runs, for which he was rewarded with a new contract. While 2005 saw Gloucestershire relegated to the second division in the Championship, Gidman hit three centuries, including a career-topping high score of 142 against Surrey. The following season, Gloucestershire struggled in the second division, though Gidman hit four centuries in the season, finishing with an average of just below 50. In 2007, he averaged 39.65 and was Gloucestershire's top scorer. He has signed to play for Otago in the 2007-08 New Zealand cricket season.Gidman joins Otago
/ref> Gidman was appointed captain of Gloucestershire in 2009 taking over from Jon Lewis. He was awarded a benefit year in 2012, after being with the county for 10 years. After Gloucestershire finished bottom of the

2012 County Championship The 2012 County Championship season, known as the LV= County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the 113th cricket County Championship season. Warwickshire won their seventh County Championship title. It was contested through two divisions ...

, Gidman stood down as captain, having already relinquished captain duties in the

Friends Life t20 The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

Hamish Marshall Hamish John Hamilton Marshall (born 15 February 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game for New Zealand. He is the identical twin brother of James Marshall. Hamish and James became the second pair of twins (a ...

. He felt he needed to concentrate on his own game, and was replaced by

Michael Klinger Michael Klinger (born 4 July 1980) is an Australian former first-class cricketer, who held the record for the most runs scored in the Big Bash League when he retired in 2019. Until the 2008–09 season, Klinger played for Victoria and for ...

. With the burden of the captaincy removed, Gidman enjoyed a very successful 2013 season, averaging 51.13 and amassing 1125 runs. He also scored a career high 211 against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, the first time a Gloucs player had scored a double century since

Craig Spearman Craig Murray Spearman (born 4 July 1972) is an English-New Zealand former cricketer who played 19 Tests and 51 One Day Internationals for New Zealand from 1995–2001. He took his education from Kelston Boys High School, Auckland and then to Ma ...

in 2006. In June 2013, he was rewarded with a new three-year contract taking him up to the end of the 2016 season. In September 2014 it was announced that Gidman would join Worcestershire on a two-year contract. In August 2015 Gidman announced that he was launching an organisation which would support ex-players back into a life after sport. Ironically, In February 2016 Gidman announced his retirement from cricket, due to a serious finger injury.

Career best performances

Coaching career

On 5 March 2018, Gidman returned to Worcestershire as Second XI Coach. Later that year, on 30 November 2018, Gidman was promoted to Head Coach. Gidman stepped down from his role and left Worcester on 14 October 2022. In February 2023 he joined

as batting coach.Alex Gidman: Former Worcestershire head coach named Kent batting coach

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.

References

External links

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Alex Gidman
The PCA {{DEFAULTSORT:Gidman, Alex 1981 births English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Gloucestershire cricket captains Gloucestershire Cricket Board cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Otago cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Living people Sportspeople from High Wycombe Cricketers from Buckinghamshire