Early career

Born 11 May 1974 in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, Gillespie made his debut for Ireland on 6 June 1995 against the Duchess of Norfolk's XI at Arundel Castle. He played the following day against the MCC at Lord's. Later in the month, he made his List A debut against Yorkshire in the NatWest Trophy. He then represented Ireland in the Triple Crown Tournament the following month. He played just twice for Ireland in 1996, a Benson & Hedges Cup match against Gloucestershire in May and his first-class debut against Scotland in August.

1997 ICC Trophy

Gillespie was named in the Ireland squad for the 1997 ICC Trophy and played in nine matches. In the second round match against Hong Kong, he took 3/42, his best bowling figures in all matches for Ireland.

1997 to 1999

Gillespie played two more games for Ireland in 1997, both Benson & Hedges Cup games, against Middlesex and Glamorgan. In 1998, he began to become a more regular fixture in the Irish side. That year, he played against the MCC, Bangladesh, a NatWest Trophy match against Warwickshire, South Africa (twice) and Australia in addition to the Triple Crown and the European Championship. He also represented Northern Ireland in the cricket tournament at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, the only time to date that cricket has featured in the Commonwealth Games.

The following year, he played first-class matches against the South Africa Academy and Scotland and again played in the Triple Crown.

2000 to 2004

The 21st century started for Peter Gillespie with a trip to Zimbabwe to play in the ICC Emerging Nations tournament, highlighted by an innings of 74 against Denmark. That year he also played against the MCC, Zimbabwe and in the European Championship.

He was not selected for the Ireland squad for the 2001 ICC Trophy, but came back into the side in August, playing in the Triple Crown and in the C & G Trophy against Wiltshire and the Hampshire Cricket Board. He won the man of the match award for an innings of 66 in the match against Wiltshire.

2002 started with a C & G Trophy match against Nottinghamshire and continued with a match against West Indies A in which he scored 88, his highest score for Ireland at that time,^[2] again picking up the man of the match award.^[16] He then played in the European Championship^[17] and against the MCC and Berkshire.^[2]

2003 was a busy year, with matches against Zimbabwe, South Africa, the MCC, the Free Foresters and Hertfordshire, amongst others.^[2] In 2004, he played in Ireland's famous wins over Surrey in the C & G Trophy, which was only Ireland's second win over a first-class county^[18] and the West Indies,^[19] Ireland's third win over the West Indies.,^[20] also playing in the European Championship,^[21] two matches against Bangladesh, once against the MCC^[2] and ICC Intercontinental Cup games against Scotland and the Netherlands.^[3]