Birchip Cricket Club had the pleasure of presenting a Sportsman Night with Jason “Dizzy” Gillespie at the Birchip Leisure Centre on Wednesday, February 19.

With a short notice cancellation of an event, Birchip Cricket Club accepted the invitation where 60 attendees listened to an enjoyable night of his experiences within the Australian and International cricket communities.

Jason Gillespie, former Australian cricketer, who played in all three formats of the game debuted for Australia in the 1996 Test against West Indies. Jason was a right arm fast bowler. His career statistics showed that he played 71 Tests, 97 ODI, 189 First Class, 21 T20s games. Best bowling figures for a Test were 7/37 against England in 4th Test at Leeds in 1997.

Jason spoke about his years being part of the bowling era with Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. A highlight of the batting experience was sharing a last wicket stand of 114 against New Zealand in 2004 at the Gabba, with Glenn making 61 and Jason 54 not out.

Highlights

“Mouse” from Mouse Promotions throughout the night asked Jason questions about highlights from his career. Jason’s most memorable accomplishment was the 2nd Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in April 2006. Gillespie made 201 not out (26 fours, 2 sixes), setting a world record for the highest individual score by a nightwatchman. He made comment that he knew that he had to be at the crease for a very long time, as he had just run out his captain Ricky Ponting on 52.

This was his maiden first class century. He shared a fourth wicket 320 run partnership with Michael Hussey (182). Jason was awarded Man-of-the-Match and Man of the Series for his 201 runs no and 3/11. This Test was the end of his International cricket career due to injury.

Jason also played for South Australia in the Domestic cricket where he had figures of 8/50 against New South Wales in 2001.

Since retiring Jason has held coaching positions with Zimbabwe (MidWest Rhinos), Indian Premier League (Kings XI Punjab), Yorkshire, Adelaide Strikers – Big Bash 2015, South Australia and most recently head coach of Pakistan in 2024.

To finalize the night, Q&As were conducted, True or False quiz won by Ken Tierney, memorabilia raffle won by Brad Sharp, and a meat tray raffle won by John Bales, with photos and autographs concluding the night.

Thanks to Riley Doran who quickly organized the event at short notice, Mouse Promotions and Jason “Dizzy” Gillespie for a great night of sporting entertainment.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 25 February 2025.