Norman Gifford MBE (born 30 March 1940)[1] is a retired English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner.
Cricket writer Colin Bateman said, "a spinner who pushed Derek Underwood out of the England side had to be something special, and Norman Gifford was just that.
In July 1961, he was notified he was on the long list to tour India and Pakistan with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side, but was not selected for the final party.
He was again fairly successful in the 1962 and 1963 seasons, with 92 and 72 wickets respectively, and in 1962 was selected for the Players in their penultimate match against the Gentlemen before the distinction between amateur and professional cricketers was abolished.
Although the game was ruined by rain, with no play at all possible on the first two days, Gifford had time to impress, returning miserly analyses of 12–6–14–2 in the first innings and 17–9–17–1 in the second.
He made his One Day International debut – extraordinarily as captain – in the absence of David Gower who was being rested, at the age of 44 in the 1984/85 'Rothmans Four-Nations Cup' contest in Sharjah.
England lost both their matches, against Australia and Pakistan, but Gifford showed that he still had the ability in the second game when he took 4–23 including the prize wicket of Imran Khan for a first-ball duck.