Australian fast bowler, 71 Tests, and a key part of one of the greatest bowling attacks in cricket history
CricketJason Gillespie bowled for Australia in the era when Australian bowling was, effectively, world cricket.
Between 1996 and 2006 he took 259 Test wickets in 71 matches, operating alongside Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne. In any other era he would have been the first-choice spearhead of a dominant Test side. In his era he was the fast bowler who did the unglamorous work: bowled beautiful lines for long hours, and took the wickets the press had not expected him to take. He was a World Cup winner in both 1999 and 2003.
There was one famous batting moment. At Chittagong in 2006, sent in as a nightwatchman against Bangladesh, he scored an unbeaten 201. A double hundred from a number eleven batsman is one of the rarer statistical curios of Test cricket, and Gillespie treated it, then and still, with the wry amusement it deserved.
Post retirement he moved into coaching with considerable success. He led Yorkshire to the County Championship title in 2014 and 2015, then took charge of the Pakistan Test side in April 2024. The appointment lasted eight months before he resigned in December 2024, saying he had been kept in the dark over key decisions by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The coaching story is still being written, but the playing record stands.
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