Alfred Leonard Gibson (13 February 1912 – 28 June 2013)[1] was a Jamaican-born English cricketer. Gibson was a right-handed batsman. On 13 February 2012, he became the 15th former first-class player to reach 100 years of age, and the 5th county cricketer to do so.[2]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alfred Leonard Gibson | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 13 February 1912 Devon, Middlesex County, Jamaica | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 28 June 2013 (aged 101) Manton, Rutland, England | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Fred | ||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
| 1946 | Leicestershire | ||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 21 January 2013 | |||||||||||||||
Born at Devon, Jamaica, where he was taught cricket by the manager of a banana plantation and once played in a match featuring George Headley.[3] Gibson moved to England in 1944, accompanied by a friend,[3] where he joined the Royal Air Force and saw service in the later stages of World War II while stationed near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire.[2][3] Following the war, Leicestershire County Cricket Club secretary Cecil Wood was given the task of building a team for the resumption of first-class cricket, with Gibson impressing Wood in friendly one-day matches against Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire in 1945. He was offered the chance to play for Leicestershire in 1946,[2] making two first-class appearances against Yorkshire in the County Championship at Headingley and Oxford University at the University Parks.[4] He scored a total of 17 runs in his two matches, at an average of 5.66, with a high score of 11.[5] He suffered arm and head injuries in a car accident midway through the 1946 season and was not reengaged by the county.[2]
He later married an English woman and worked as a technician for Rolls-Royce. Gibson is also noted as being one of the first black persons to be elected as a councillor in England when he was elected to represent Mountsorrel on the local council.[6] Gibson died at a nursing home at Manton, Rutland on 28 June 2013. At the time of his death he was the second-oldest surviving county cricketer, behind Cyril Perkins.[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Obituaries – The Professional Cricketers' Association". Professional Cricketers' Association. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d Bolton, Paul (15 February 2012). "Century celebrations for old campaigner Gibson". The Wisden Cricketer. www.thecricketer.com. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ a b c Holdridge, Richard (13 February 2012). "Fred brings up his hundred!". Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ "First-Class Matches played by Fred Gibson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ "First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Fred Gibson". CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ Jet. Vol. 3. Johnson Publishing Company. 21 July 1955. p. 10.