Gibbs - an accomplished batsman

With most international cricket being virtually over but for the One-Day series between South Africa and Australia and then between Pakistan and Australia, the focus will move to the Indian Premier League.

Sure there will be the England-West Indies series in early May, but by that time the IPL will be in full swing and with teams looking to qualify for the semi finals it will take some truly extraordinary deeds in the Tests for interest to be diverted there. Of course there are and will always be die hard Test match supporters who don't think much of the latest short format of the game, but that's life.

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Life is also such that a player, who had to undergo assistance and treatment for drinks addiction and was almost lost to the game because of that, has made a comeback and ended up being a Man of the Match. No, one is not talking about Jesse Ryder but Herschelle Gibbs who last year had many problems, but has come out of them to reclaim his place in the South African team.

Gibbs is one of those batsmen who have all the strokes in the book and also all the time in the world to play them. When batting becomes that easy then one takes it a bit casually, forgets practice and begins to believe that one has to only turn up at the ground and the runs will start flowing.

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The fact is that the bowling fraternity is busy doing its homework and looking for chinks in the armour and most times they are able to find it if not in the technique then in the temperament and that's when it all starts to go wrong and bad habits creep up not just on the field but off it too. It is here that the support system becomes crucial.

If the authorities are lackadaisical and couldn't care less then the player will submerge, but if like Cricket Australia, New Zealand Cricket and Cricket South Africa they are proactive in seeing that a top talent is not lost to the game then that player can make a comeback chastened and wiser and a better human being.

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Herschelle Gibbs has seen the ups and downs of the game and he has shown that the fears of Graeme Smith that he might be a disruptive element in the team dressing room are unfounded by hitting a fine century that has given the home team the One-Day series against Australia. For this innings and his great comeback he is the Ceat International Cricketer Of The Week.