Norman Gifford (born 30 March 1940) is a retired English

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 striki ...

er, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. Gifford played county cricket for

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 His ...

, and

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Its T20 team is called the Birmingham Bears. Founde ...

s, and represented

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 ...

in fifteen Test matches and two

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

between 1964 and 1985. Cricket writer Colin Bateman said, "a spinner who pushed

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

out of the England side had to be something special, and Norman Gifford was just that. A great competitor with a deep knowledge of the game, 'Giff' could find turn from most surfaces despite firing in his left-arm deliveries".

Early career

Known to Worcestershire folk as "Apple Norm", Gifford served his apprenticeship as a professional cricketer in the

second team during 1959, and when in May 1960 he took 2–25 from 18 overs in a drawn Second XI match 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 ...

, he was called up to the first team for the game against the same opposition that began the very next day. Gifford took four wickets in Kent's first innings, but Worcestershire collapsed to their second-lowest ever score of 25 all out on their way to an innings defeat. In the next game against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Gifford took ten wickets in the match, including second-innings analysis of 15.5–7–18–6.

Recognition

Gifford finished 1960 with 41 wickets 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 17.90, but this only hinted at the success he was to enjoy the following year. 1961 proved to be the most productive season of Gifford's career as he took 133 wickets. In July 1961, he was notified he was on the long list to tour India and Pakistan with the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) side, but was not selected for the final party. In compensation he toured

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and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

with an International XI. He was again fairly successful in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, with 92 and 72 wickets respectively, and in 1962 was selected for the Players in their penultimate match against the Gentlemen before the distinction between amateur and professional cricketers was abolished.

International selection

1964 was the year when Gifford really broke through as he was selected for the Second Ashes

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in June. Although the game was ruined by rain, with no play at all possible on the first two days, Gifford had time to impress, returning miserly analyses of 12–6–14–2 in the first innings and 17–9–17–1 in the second. He was retained for the Third Test at

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, but took only two wickets as

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recorded a comfortable win. It would be seven years before he played Test cricket again.

County cricketer

Worcestershire's won the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

in 1964, and retained their title the following year. Gifford was instrumental in these successes, and although he reached 100 wickets only in 1964, between 1963 and 1968 he averaged under 20 with the ball every season. He took his career-best bowling figures in July 1968 when he took 8–28 (albeit in a losing cause) against

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International recall

Gifford was recalled to the England team in 1971, replacing

for the Second Test against

. He was in and out of the team during the next two years, including a tour of the Indian sub-continent in 1972-3. He played two more Tests against

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the following summer, but thereafter the selectors' minds turned decisively towards Underwood and Gifford never played Test cricket again. He contented himself with consistent displays in county cricket, leading Worcestershire to another County Championship triumph in 1974, for which he was named as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

. Later he played for Worcestershire's great rivals

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-Avon an ...

, whom he joined for the 1983 season. That year he took 104 first-class wickets, the final time he was to reach the 100 mark.

One Day captain

Gifford's England career, however, was not quite over. He made his

debut – extraordinarily as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

– in the absence of

David Gower David Ivon Gower (born 1 April 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who was captain of the England cricket team during the 1980s. Described as one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen of his era, Gower played 117 Te ...

who was being rested, at the age of 44 in the 1984/85 'Rothmans Four-Nations Cup' contest in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

. England lost both their matches, against Australia and Pakistan, but Gifford showed that he still had the ability in the second game when he took 4–23 including the prize wicket of

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

for a first-ball duck. Despite this performance, however, these two games proved to be the extent of Gifford's brief ODI career.

Later years

Gifford continued to play for Warwickshire into his late forties, and when he retired from playing at the age of 48 in 1988, he had taken 2,068 first-class wickets. The reduction in the amount of first-class cricket played means that he is likely to remain the last man to have broken the 2,000 mark. Never much of a batsman, he made only three half-centuries in more than 800 innings, his 7,000 runs coming at an average of just 13. After retirement, Gifford went into coaching and became coach of first

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, and then

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. He is now a scorer for his hometown side, Ulverston C.C. He is still helping to coach youngsters at Worcestershire in 2015, sharing his wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Teams

International

English county

Other first-class

* DB Close's XI * England B * International Wanderers * International XI *

(MCC) * Players * World XI

Career highlights

Tests

*Test debut: vs

, 1964 *Last Test: vs

, Lord's, 1973 **Highest score: 25* vs New Zealand,

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, 1973 **Best bowling: 5–55 vs

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, 1972/73

One-Day International

*ODI debut: vs Australia,

, 1984/85 *Last ODI: vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 1984/85 **Highest score: 0 vs Pakistan, Sharjah 1984/85 **Best bowling: 4–23 vs Pakistan, Sharjah 1984/85 **ODI captaincy record: 2 matches; 0 wins, 2 losses

First-class

*First-class debut:

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

, 1960 *Last first-class match:

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, Birmingham, 1988 **Highest score: 89 for Worcestershire vs

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 1963 **Best bowling: 8–28 for Worcestershire vs

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, 1968

List A Limited Overs

*List A debut: Worcestershire vs

, Lord's, 1963 *Last List A match: Warwickshire vs

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, Birmingham, 1988 **Highest score: 38 for Worcestershire vs

, Lord's, 1966 ( Gillette Cup final) **Best bowling: 6–8 for Worcestershire vs

Minor Counties South The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

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, 1979

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Norman 1940 births England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Living people Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Ulverston Players cricketers Warwickshire cricket captains Warwickshire cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Worcestershire cricket captains Worcestershire cricketers D. B. Close's XI cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club Touring Team cricketers Sportspeople from Cumbria