Personal Information
Date of Birth | November 23, 1967 |
Nationality | South Africa |
Role | Opening Batsman/Left-handed, Coach, Right arm off break Bowler |
Past Team(s) | |
Family | Paul Kirsten (Brother), Peter Kirsten (Half-brother), Deborah Kirsten (Spouse), Joanna Kirsten, James Kirsten, Joshua Kirsten (Children) |
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Gary Kirsten: A Brief Biography
Gary Kirsten Biography
Gary Kirsten is a former South African cricketer, born on 23 November 1967 in Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa. He played for South Africa as an opening batsman between 1993 and 2004. He is a left-handed batsman and a right arm off break bowler.
Background
Kirsten had a successful amateur career as a teenager before making his professional debut as a 19-year old. He played professionally for Western Province from 1987-2004.
Debut
On 26 December 1993, Kirsten made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne. He made ODI debut on 11 December 1993 in a match against New Zealand At Adelaide Oval.
With sturdy batting performance in his debut matches, he occupied the place of opening batsman in the team.
Low Points
Kirsten had his problem with incoming deliveries, something for which he slogged for hours at the nets to eradicate. The bowlers used his weak point to dismiss him but he gained control over it after some time.
Gary's Record in Numbers
Kirsten has played the second-longest innings in Test history and scored 275 runs for over 14 and a half hours against England.
He was the first Test batsman to make hundreds against each of the other nine Test nations. Gary has 21 Test hundreds to his name, which was the most until Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers went past him.
Retirement
Gary retired from international cricket in 2004. He was appointed the coach of the Indian cricket team in March 2008, and continued with the team till their victorious campaign at the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.
On 5 June 2011, Kirsten was appointed the full-time coach of the South Africa national cricket team for a term period of two years. Kirsten was appointed the coach of the Hobart Hurricanes cricket team in April 2017.