Peter Gerard Gillespie (born 11 May 1974) is a Northern Irish 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. A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler, he had played for the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland particip ...

116 times up to the start of the 2007 World Cup,CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> including twelve first-class matchesFirst-class matches played by Peter Gillespie at Cricket Archive
/ref> and 35 List A matches,List A matches played by Peter Gillespie at Cricket Archive
– 38 in total, 2 for Northern Ireland, 1 during the 2007 World Cup four of which were One Day International.One-Day Internationals played by Peter Gillespie at Cricket Archive
– Five in total, one of which is during the 2007 World Cup Only three players have played more times for Ireland.

Playing career

Early career

Born 11 May 1974 in Strabane,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

,Cricket Archive profile
/ref> Gillespie made his debut for Ireland on 6 June 1995 against the Duchess of Norfolk's XI at Arundel Castle. He played the following day against the MCC at Lord's. Later in the month, he made his List A debut against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

in the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

. He then represented Ireland in the

Triple Crown Tournament The Triple Crown Tournament was a cricket competition staged annually from 1993 to 2001 between the Home Nations; that is to say Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a team representing England. England were not represented by the professional English cr ...

the following month.Other matches played by Peter Gillespie at Cricket Archive
/ref> He played just twice for Ireland in 1996, a Benson & Hedges Cup match against

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 ...

in May and his first-class debut against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in August.

1997 ICC Trophy

Gillespie was named in the Ireland squad for the

1997 ICC Trophy The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 24 March and 13 April 1997. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh were the winners of the t ...

and played in nine matches.ICC Trophy matches played by Peter Gillespie at Cricket Archive
/ref> In the second round match against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, he took 3/42, his best bowling figures in all matches for Ireland.

1997 to 1999

Gillespie played two more games for Ireland in 1997, both Benson & Hedges Cup games, against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

and Glamorgan. In 1998, he began to become a more regular fixture in the Irish side. That year, he played against the MCC,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, a NatWest Trophy match against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

(twice) and Australia in addition to the Triple Crown and the European Championship. He also represented Northern Ireland in the cricket tournament at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''( Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unpreceden ...

, the only time to date that cricket has featured in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. The following year, he played first-class matches against the South Africa Academy and Scotland and again played in the Triple Crown.

2000 to 2004

The 21st century started for Peter Gillespie with a trip to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

to play in the ICC Emerging Nations tournament, highlighted by an innings of 74 against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. That year he also played against the MCC,

and in the European Championship. He was not selected for the Ireland squad for the 2001 ICC Trophy, but came back into the side in August, playing in the Triple Crown and in the C & G Trophy against

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

and the Hampshire Cricket Board. He won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award for an innings of 66 in the match against Wiltshire. 2002 started with a C & G Trophy match against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

and continued with a match against West Indies A in which he scored 88, his highest score for Ireland at that time, again picking up the man of the match award. He then played in the European Championship and against the MCC and Berkshire. 2003 was a busy year, with matches against Zimbabwe, South Africa, the MCC, the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Will ...

and Hertfordshire, amongst others. In 2004, he played in Ireland's famous wins over Surrey in the C & G Trophy, which was only Ireland's second win over a first-class county and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

, Ireland's third win over the West Indies, also playing in the European Championship, two matches against Bangladesh, once against the MCC and

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first ...

games against Scotland and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

2005 ICC Trophy

Gillespie was named in the Ireland squad for the

2005 ICC Trophy The 2005 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Ireland between 1 July and 13 July 2005. It was an international one-day tournament played over 50 overs per side between 12 Associate Members of the International Cricket Council. It served a ...

and warmed up with his first century for Ireland, scoring 102

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

against the MCC in June. He played in five matches in the tournament itself, without much success until the semi-final against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where he scored 64 not out to help lead Ireland to the final, winning the man of the match award in the process. Also in 2005, he played against

Loughborough UCCE Loughborough MCC University (previously known as Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence) is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, and the name under which the universi ...

, Warwickshire and Yorkshire, in addition to playing in Intercontinental Cup games against the Netherlands, Scotland, the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and the final against

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, which Ireland won.

2006 and onwards

2006 saw Ireland gain One Day International status, and Gillespie played in the first three of Ireland's such games against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Scotland and the Netherlands. He did not meet with much success in those games however, being dismissed for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

in each of them. The first match saw him dismissed on the third ball, the second on the second ball, and the third on the first ball.Cricinfo profile
/ref> That year, he also played in all nine of Ireland's C & G Trophy games, against the MCC, in the European Championship and Intercontinental Cup games against Scotland and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. He was named in Ireland's squad for Division One of the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

in January/February 2007, but he only played in the match against Kenya. He then played in an Intercontinental Cup game against the UAE before being named in Ireland's squad for the 2007 World Cup. He did not play in Ireland's first round matches as they beat

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and tied against Zimbabwe to reach the Super 8 stage, and missed the first two matches in that stageScorecards of matche
one
an

in the 2007 World Cup Super Eight stage for Ireland before playing in the third match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland up until the 2007 World Cup, Gillespie scored 2599 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 27.65, and took 18

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

at an

of 37.33.

Relations

Gillespie comes from a cricketing family, with three other members of his family all playing for Strabane, his club side in Ireland. His brother

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

also represented Ireland internationally.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Peter 1974 births Living people Cricketers from County Tyrone Ireland One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Sportspeople from Strabane Irish cricketers Cricketers from Northern Ireland