Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist was the most exciting cricketer and the captain of Australia’s modern age. he once described his philosophy on batting “Just hit the ball,” who walked when given not out in a World Cup semi-final, and swatted his second ball for six while sitting on a Test pair whirling his bat like a hammer-thrower, caring only for the scoreboard and never his average. Still he managed to score at a tempo – 81 per 100 balls in Tests, 96 in one-dayers. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australia national cricket team through his aggressive batting. He is widely regarded as the greatest wicket-keeperbatsman in the history of the game.His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket; his century against England at Perth in December 2006 is the third-fastest century in all Test cricket.He is the only player to have hit 100 sixes in Test cricket.His 17 Test and 16 ODI centuries are the most by a wicket-keeper. He holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals (in 1999, 2003 and 2007) and is one of only three players to have won three titles.:
Born November 14, 1971, Bellingen, New South Wales Current age 43 years 39 days Major teams Australia, Deccan Chargers, ICC World XI, Kings XI Punjab, Middlesex, New South Wales, Western Australia Nickname Gilly, Churchy Playing role Wicketkeeper batsman Batting style Left-hand bat Bowling style Right-arm offbreak Fielding position Wicketkeeper Height 1.86 m :
Gilchrist played in every match of Australia’s successful World Cup campaign, but struggled at first, with scores of 6, 14 and 0 in the first three matches against Scotland, New Zealand and Pakistan.Australia lost the latter two matches and had to avoid defeat for six consecutive matches to reach the final.Gilchrist’s quick-fire 63 runs in 39 balls against Bangladesh helped the Australians into the Super Six stage of the tournament, which was secured with a win over the West Indies, although Gilchrist made only 21.Gilchrist continued to struggle in the Super Six phase, scoring 31, 10 and 5 against India, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Australia won all three matches,the last in the final over,to scrape into the semifinals.Gilchrist made only 20 in the semifinal against South Africa, but completed the final act of the match. With the scores tied, South Africa were going for the winning run when Gilchrist broke the stumps to complete the run out of Allan Donald; the match was tied,and Australia proceeded to the final due to a higher net run rate. Gilchrist’s 54 in the final helped secure Australia’s first world title since 1987 with an eight wicket victory over Pakistan. It was a happy ending for Gilchrist, who had struggled through the tournament, with 237 runs at 21.54. Success at the World Cup was followed by a defeat by Sri Lanka in the final of the Aiwa Cup in August 1999,despite Gilchrist being the most successful batsman and wicket-keeper of the tournament,with 231 runs at 46.20.While the Test players battled against Sri Lanka, Gilchrist led Australia A in a limited overs series against India A in Los Angeles. He then scored 60 runs at 20.00 as the Australians completed a 30 whitewash of Zimbabwe in October. Gilchrist made his Test match debut in the First Test against Pakistan at the Gabba in Brisbane in November 1999 becoming the 381st Australian Test cricketer.He replaced Healy, who was dropped after a run of poor form, despite the incumbent’s entreaties to the selectors to allow him a farewell game in front of his home crowd.Gilchrist’s entry into the Test arena coincided with a dramatic rise in Australia’s fortunes.Up to this point, they had played eight Tests in 1999, winning and losing three.His best effort was 92 in a 152-run victory over India on Australia Day. Gilchrist then scored 251 runs at 41.66 in the ODIs during a tour of New Zealand. The highlight was a 128 in Christchurch that propelled Australia to a score of 6/349. Gilchrist was named man of the match in two of the games. In the Third Test against New Zealand in 2000, Gilchrist recorded the third best Test performance ever by a wicketkeeper, and the best by an Australian, taking ten catches in the match. Although Gilchrist’s batting was modest, yielding 144 runs at 36.00,Australia took a 30 clean sweep.In two home and away ODI series against South Africa, Gilchrist had a quiet time, scoring 170 runs at 26.66.South Africa won three of the six matches, with one tie. Later that year, he was handed the vice-captaincy of the Australian team in place of Shane Warne, who had been plagued by a number of off-the-field controversies, including an altercation with some teenage boys, and a sex scandal with a British nurse. The 2001 season saw a West Indian touring party and Gilchrist warmed up with consecutive first-class centuries for Western Australia.Captaining his Test team for the first time in place of the injured Steve Waugh in the Third Test in Adelaide. Gilchrist scored only 9 and 10 not out,but a ten-wicket haul from Colin Miller resulted in a hard-fought five-wicket victory for Australia.Gilchrist described the match as “the proudest moment of my career”.Waugh resumed the captaincy on his return to the team for the Fourth and Fifth Tests, with the series finishing in a 50 whitewash.Gilchrist scored 241 runs at 48.20 with two fifties.In the ensuing ODI tournament, Gilchrist scored 326 runs at 36.22 with a top-score of 98 as the Australians won all ten matches. Up to this point, Gilchrist had played in 14 Tests, all in Australasia, and all of which had been won.Australia’s run of 15 consecutive Test wins faced a steep challenge on the tour of India, where they had not won a Test series since 196970. Australia’s streak looked in danger during the First Test in Mumbai when they fell to 5/99 in reply to India’s 171 when Gilchrist came to the crease. He counterattacked savagely, scoring 122 in just 112 balls, and featuring in a 197-run partnership with Matthew Hayden in only 32 overs.This swung the momentum back to Australia, who reached 349. Gilchrist took six catches and was named Man of the Match in a ten wicket victory,extending the world record run to 16. Gilchrist’s form dipped momentarily, with a rare king pair (two golden ducks in the same match) in the Second Test in Kolkata and just two runs in his two innings in Chennai. He was out LBW four consecutive times in the last two Tests, three of these to Harbhajan Singh, who took 32 wickets in the series to end Australia’s run by inflicting a 21 series loss. His one-day form remained strong, with 172 runs at 43.00 in the ODI series in India, as Australia bounced back to win the series 32. During this series he captained the ODI team for the first time, winning all three of the matches under his captaincy.:
2003 Cricket World Cup:
Gilchrist played in all but one of the matches in Australia’s successful defence of their World Cup title;he was rested for the group match against the Netherlands. He finished the tournament with 408 runs at an average of 40.80 at a strike rate of 105. He scored four half-centuries, and was run out against Sri Lanka in the Super Six stage just a single run short of a century.In the semi-final, he scored 22 before being caught off an inside-edge onto pad off the bowling of Aravinda de Silva. The umpire gave no reaction, however Gilchrist walked off the pitch after a moment’s pause. In 2009 it was described as an “astonishing moment” drawing criticism from England’s Angus Fraser, who “objected to him being canonised simply for not cheating”, and from others who “thought that he walked almost by accident; that having played his shot he overbalanced in the direction of the pavilion.” His actions nevertheless drew praise from the majority.In the final, India elected to field first and Gilchrist hammered 57 from 48 balls, featuring in a century opening stand with Hayden to seize the initiative. This laid the foundation for Australia’s 2/359 and a crushing 125-run win, ending an unbeaten campaign.Gilchrist was also the competition’s most successful wicketkeeper, making 21 dismissals.:
Success in the World Cup was followed up by a tour of the West Indies where Gilchrist was part of a side that won both the ODI and Test series.He scored 282 runs at 70.50 with one century in the four Tests, and 212 runs at 35.33 in the ODIs.The Australians then defeated a touring Bangladeshi cricket team in short series in both forms of the game.Gilchrist was only sporadically required with the bat.:
Decline and revival:
After scoring his first Test century at his home ground in Perth, an unbeaten 113 against Zimbabwe,Gilchrist’s Test form dipped again during the 200304 season, with only 120 runs coming in the next 10 innings, during the home series against India (drawn 11) and the away series in Sri Lanka (won 30).However, he returned to form in the Second Test Kandy, scoring a quickfire 144 in the second innings to set up a 27-run win after Australia conceded a 91-run first innings lead.:
However, he maintained high standards in ODIs during this period, including 111 against India in Bangalore, 172 against Zimbabwe, just one run short of Mark Waugh’s Australian record, and two further half-centuries in the VB Series in Australia.His success in One-day cricket was underlined by his rise to the top of the ICC ODI batting rankings in February 2004. However, he was unable to maintain this form on the 2004 tours of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the Champions Trophy in England, accumulating 253 runs at 28.11 in 11 innings.:
Gilchrist then scored 115 runs at 28.75 in two Tests at home to Sri Lanka in mid-2004,and captained in the First Test win in Darwin with Ponting absent. Australia won the series 10.:
Retirement:
On 26 January 2008 during the 4th and final Test of the 200708 series against India, Gilchrist announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the season. A back injury kept Ricky Ponting off the field for sections of the Indian’s second innings, resulting in Gilchrist captaining the team for the part of final two days of his Test cricket career.India batted out the match for a draw, so Gilchrist’s 14 in the first innings was his final Test innings; he took his 379th and final catch when Virender Sehwag was caught behind.Gilchrist had scored only 150 runs at 21.42 in his final Test series. John Buchanan, who coached Australia during most of Gilchrist’s international career, predicted that Gilchrist’s retirement would have more impact than the previous year’s retirements of Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd asked Gilchrist to reconsider.Gilchrist later revealed that he chose to retire after dropping VVS Laxman during the first innings, and realising that he had lost his “competitive edge.”He played out the summer’s ODI series, before ending in disappointment when India beat Australia 20 in the 2007-08 Commonwealth Bank Series finals.Gilchrist managed only seven and two in the finals.His highlight of the series was his scoring 118 and being named Man of the Match in his final match at his adopted home in Perth on 15 February 2008, against Sri Lanka.He ended his final series with 322 runs at 32.20.:
Achievement List of international cricket centuries by Adam Gilchrist Awards:
Gilchrist was one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2002,and Australia’s One-day International Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He was awarded the Allan Border Medal in 2003,and was the only Australian cricketer who was a current player at the time to have been named in “Richie Benaud’s Greatest XI” in 2004.He was selected in the ICC World XI for the charity series against the ACC Asian XI, 200405,was voted as “World’s Scariest Batsman” in a poll of international bowlers,and was named as wicket-keeper and opening batsman in Australia’s “greatest ever ODI team.” In a poll of over ten thousand people hosted in 2007 by ESPNcricinfo, he was voted the ninth greatest all-rounder of the last one hundred years.A panel of prominent cricket writers selected him in Australia’s all-time best XI for ESPNcricinfo. Gilchrist has not only left his mark on Australian cricket but the whole cricketing world. In 2010, Gilchrist was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to cricket and the community. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2012.On 9-December-2013, ICC announced that they had inducted Gilchrist in the prestigious ICC Hall of Fame.:
Batting averages
Tests:
Matches: 96
Innings: 137
Not Out: 20
Runs: 5570
High Score: 204*
100s: 17
50s: 26
ODIs:
Matches: 287
Innings: 279
Not Out: 11
Runs: 9619
High Score: 172
100s: 16
50s: 55
T20Is:
Matches: 13
Innings: 13
Not Out: 1
Runs: 272
High Score: 48
Twenty20:
Matches: 102
Innings: 102
Not Out: 5
Runs: 2622
High Score: 109*
100s: 3
50s: 13
