Before these series, Herschelle Gibbs looked ripe to be exposed as a charlatan by Glenn McGrath. Flashy, dashing, at his best outside off stump, and without a Test hundred in anything resembling trying circumstances, Gibbs seemed custom-made for McGrath to unravel with his unerring accuracy. But Gibbs had a very good winter: he was only out in single figures once, and though he didn't always make the most of a good start, he did make a matchwinning century at Durban in circumstances which - dead rubber or no dead rubber - were most certainly trying. Better still, Gibbs came as close as anyone to mastering McGrath, who dismissed him only twice in all six Tests. In that time Gibbs gathered 139 runs, for a McGrath average (surely the real barometer of a batsman's class) of 69.50. And, as our graph shows, Gibbs did this without compromising his traditional run-scoring areas, through the covers and point.

What is notable here is the respect that Gibbs afforded McGrath. He scored those 139 runs off 366 balls that he faced from McGrath (equivalent to 2.28 per over). Against Jason Gillespie he hit 96 off 143 balls (4.03 per over), and Brett Lee 101 off 149 (4.07). He even managed 2.94 per over off Shane Warne (96 off 196), despite being out to him four times. In fact, Australian spin may be Gibbs's Achilles' heel: against Warne, Mark Waugh and Stuart MacGill he made 114 runs and was out six times.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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