At Diocesan College Gibbs played for their First Rugby XV in the same team alongside Robbie Fleck, Selborne Boome and Dave von Hoesslin who would all go on to become Springboks.

Gibbs famously dropped a catch in a World Cup game against Australia in 1999, when he attempted to throw the ball up into the air in celebration before he had full control of it.

With just six runs needed for victory, he had the strike on 96, but Alok Kapali bowled a legside wide that went for four and made his task almost impossible.

[8] On 12 March 2006, Gibbs played a monumental innings in the 5th ODI against Australia, scoring 175 off just 111 balls leading South Africa to victory.

More importantly however, it was the fastest ever hundred by a South African batsman against any opposition, although the record would be broken later in the year by Mark Boucher.

In doing so, he raised US$1 million for the Habitat for Humanity housing projects as part of a contest run by tournament sponsor Johnnie Walker.

South Africa's chief selector, Haroon Lorgat said, "We had a meeting and agreed that a break and a fresh start next season will do him a world of good."

In April 2009, his sixteen One Day International innings since the March 2008 one-day series in Bangladesh having yielded just three fifties, even Stuart Hess, his most ardent media supporter, was moved to cast doubt over his future.

"[17] He noted, however, that Gibbs was the only South African with more than 1,000 World Cup runs and that, of the twelve others, only Sachin Tendulkar with 57.93 and Sir Viv Richards with 63.31 had better averages: Perhaps putting up with Gibbs's current inconsistent streak may just have to be the pay-off South Africa have to make if it means he can help guide the national side to greater glory in two years time.

He stated that his aim was to play in the 2011 Cricket World Cup[18] His Test career came to an end following the 2007/08 West Indies tour of South Africa.

Gibbs played for Glamorgan in the 2008 County Twenty20 tournament where he had a successful time; his highest score being 98 off just 52 balls in a losing game against Northants.

[19] He then signed up to play for Glamorgan for the 2009 County season, replacing Mark Cosgrove as the overseas player at the end of June.

[21] Gibbs then signed for Yorkshire Carnegie for the 2010 Friends Provident t20 tournament, where he was their overseas player, scoring 101 from 53 balls against Northamptonshire to achieve his first century in English T20 cricket.

He tearfully claimed to the King Commission of inquiry into corruption in South African cricket that he did not follow through on his side of the bargain, scoring 74 runs.

However, Gibbs was named in the South African squad to tour India in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, and as a result, met with Indian Police over his involvement in the match-fixing scandal.

His words had been picked up on the stump microphone saying remarks such as "go back to the zoo" and swearing to the Pakistani players and as a result heard across the world.

In August 2021, he accused BCCI of putting pressure on him to not play in the inaugural edition of the Kashmir Premier League (KPL).

[26] In July 2019, Gibbs was appointed as the head coach of the Rotterdam Rhinos for the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament.