Jason Neil Gillespie (born 19 April 1975) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

cricket coach and 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 who played all three formats of the game. A right-arm

fast bowler 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''. ...

, he was also a competent lower-order batsman whose unbeaten 201 in his last Test match is the highest score by a night-watchman in international cricket. Gillespie made his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka at

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

in the Singer World Series in August 1996, and his Test debut against 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 ...

at Sydney in November 1996. He also played for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

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 ...

and Glamorgan at first-class level, and was an AIS

Australian Cricket Academy The Australian Cricket Academy was founded in 1987 as a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). It was initially located at Henley Beach in Adelaide before moving to the Allan Border F ...

scholarship holder in 1995. Gillespie announced his retirement from first-class cricket in Australia in February 2008. He then played in the unauthorised

Indian Cricket League The Indian Cricket League (ICL) was a private cricket league funded by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that operated between 2007 and 2009 in India. Its two seasons included tournaments between four international teams (World XI, India, Pakistan ...

for the Ahmedabad Rockets. At the end of the 2008 English domestic season he retired from all first-class cricket.

Personal life

Jason Gillespie is a descendant on his father's side of the

Kamilaroi The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

people of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, and is the first acknowledged Aboriginal male to become a Test cricketer. His mother has

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heritage and Jason is the eldest of the three children. He attended Cabra Dominican College in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia. Gillespie married Anna (née McEvoy) in 2003. The couple have four children. Gillespie has another daughter from a previous relationship. Gillespie is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

and has criticised dairy farming and the use of leather balls. While coaching

, Gillespie said of the club being sponsored by a dairy: "Yes, they are a sponsor but it doesn't mean I agree with what they do. It's out of my control, just like the fact that cricket balls are made of leather". Gillespie is an atheist.

International career

Bowling

Gillespie took 259 wickets in 71 Tests (at an average of 26.13) making him Australia's sixth-highest wicket-taker and giving him the 14th best bowling average for Australian bowlers who have taken more than a hundred wickets. Gillespie seldom dominated a Test series (the most wickets he took in a series is 20), but he was a reliable support bowler over several years for his more famous teammates Glenn McGrath and

Shane Warne Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australi ...

. For his performances in 2004, he was named both in the World Test XI and ODI XI by the ICC.

Batting

Glenn McGrath (61) and Gillespie (54*) shared a last-wicket stand of 114 against New Zealand in 2004 at

the Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...

to the hilarity and acclaim of their teammates. It was the first time that either of them had made a 50 in either Test or ODI versions of the game. In the second Test against

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 ...

at Chittagong on 19 April 2006, Gillespie (201 not out) set the world record (on his 31st birthday) for the highest individual score by a nightwatchman. This was his maiden first-class century. He also shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 320 runs with

Michael Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former international cricketer, who played all forms of the game. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname 'Mr Cricket'. Hussey was a relative la ...

. Gillespie was awarded man-of-the-match honours for his double century in the first innings and he was also named man of the series for his efforts that included eight wickets, at an average of 11.3. Due to injury, it was his final match in international cricket. As of 2022, Gillespie is the only nightwatchman to score a double century in a Test match.

Injuries

He played only 52 from a possible 92 Tests following his debut to his axing during the

2005 Ashes series The 2005 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing cricket rivalry between England and Australia. Starting on 21 July 2005, England and Australia played five Tests, with the Ashes held by Australia as the most recent victors. ...

. Despite these problems, he was both accurate and economical. In Australia's 1999 tour of Sri Lanka, he was involved in a sickening outfield collision when both he and

Steve Waugh Stephen Rodger Waugh (born 2 June 1965) is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a medium-pace bowler. As Australian captain from 1997 to 2004, he led Austral ...

were running to take a catch. Waugh was running from the infield towards the outfield, while Gillespie was running in. Waugh dived for the ball resulting in his nose and Gillespie's right leg being broken. The catch was not taken. Gillespie's career was cut short by a shoulder injury while fielding for

, leading to his retirement.

Coaching career

Gillespie became a coach in

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 ...

in August 2010. He worked primarily with the MidWest Rhinos, but also on " grassroots" activities to improve the performance of young players in Zimbabwe. Gillespie was drafted in as the bowling coach of

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

team

Kings XI Punjab Punjab Kings (PBKS) are a franchise cricket team based in Mohali, Punjab, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Established in 2008 as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zi ...

after their opening match against

Pune Warriors Pune Warriors India were a franchise Twenty20 cricket team that represented the city of Pune in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of two IPL franchises from the Indian state of Maharashtra, the other being Mumbai Indians. It was ...

in April 2011. In November 2011, he was named first-team coach of

after a shake up in the club's coaching system. In his first season with Yorkshire, they were promoted from Division Two of 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 the second they were runners-up in the first division; and they won the title in 2014 and 2015, when he was one of the candidates to coach England. He returned to Australia after Yorkshire narrowly missed out on a third successive title in 2016. In April 2015, Gillespie was named as the coach of the Adelaide Strikers team in the Big Bash League. In July 2017, Gillespie was appointed as the interim head coach for the Papua New Guinea national team replacing former New Zealand Test player, Dipak Patel. In 2018, Gillespie took up the position of head coach of Sussex. In August 2020, Gillespie was appointed the new coach of

. In 2021, Gillespie was named an Australia Post Legend of Cricket.

Career best performances

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillespie, Jason Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Gamilaraay South Australia cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Indigenous Australian cricketers Australian people of Greek descent 1975 births Living people Cricketers from Sydney Ahmedabad Rockets cricketers Australian cricketers Australian cricket coaches Australian Institute of Sport cricketers Big Bash League coaches Veganism in Australia Australian atheists