gifford's england career, however, was not quite over. 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. despite this performance, however, these two games proved to be the extent of gifford's brief odi career.