1. George Giffen was a cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia.
21 Facts About George Giffen
1. 2.
George Giffen was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on 26 February 2008.
3.
George Giffen was born in the Adelaide neighbourhood of Norwood in 1859 to Richard George Giffen, a carpenter and his wife Elizabeth.
4.
George Giffen started his cricket career with Norwood Cricket Club, later moving to the West Adelaide club.
5.
In November 1877 George Giffen made his first-class cricket debut, against Tasmania at the Adelaide Oval.
6.
Tasmania was forced to follow-on and in the second innings George Giffen captured another two wickets.
7.
Australia won the match by five wickets by George Giffen made only two runs and was not given a chance to bowl.
8.
George Giffen was selected to tour England with the Australian team in 1882.
9.
George Giffen was emphatically the success of the tour, and the fact that he came out first in both batting and bowling speaks volumes for his excellence.
10.
George Giffen became the first player in Test history to complete the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets.
11.
George Giffen is the only bowler in the world to snare 16 wickets in a match five times.
12.
George Giffen is the first Test cricketer to score 1000 runs and take 100 Test wickets.
13.
George Giffen is the first Australian to take 1000 first-class wickets and score 10,000 runs.
14.
George Giffen's 34 Test wickets was a series record at that time and he scored the most runs for that series.
15.
George Giffen played his last Test in 1896 but remained a force at the first-class level for some time, at the age of 41 he captured 13 English wickets to steer South Australia to a victory over the tourists.
16.
George Giffen was a robust batsman noted for his driving he had a fine cut and glance.
17.
Walter played Test cricket for Australia despite below average performances for South Australia and when George Giffen was named Captain of the 1894 tour Walter having made 11 runs in his three Tests to date and a poor domestic season was named, many believing because of George Giffen's influence over the selection.
18.
George Giffen has been accused of causing the demise of cricketer Charlie Turner who was the country's leading wicket taker at the time, and then, in the following test which Australia needed to win, opening the bowling with himself.
19.
George Giffen has a grandstand at the Adelaide Oval named after him.
20.
George Giffen played Australian rules football at a high level, representing Woodville in the inaugural 1877 SAFA season and then Norwood Football Club from 1878 to 1885 for whom he is credited as kicking their first ever goal from a running kick in the South Australian Football Association.
21.
George Giffen wrote an autobiography entitled With Bat and Ball.