Famous Australian Cricketer: Adam Gilchrist
The Australian Wicketkeeper Retires January 2008
Born in the town of Bellingen in country NSW, Adam Gilchrist began his first class career playing for his home state against Tasmania in 1993. Because NSW already had a long-serving wicketkeeper in Phil Emery, Gilchrist was forced to move to Western Australia to find his niche as a wicketkeeper.
Gilchrist made his one-day international debut for Australia against South Africa during a tour of India in 1996, replacing Ian Healey. During his 277 One Day Internationals, Gilchrist has taken 401 catches and made 53 dismissals by stumping.
Healey remained the Australian Test wicketkeeper until his retirement in 1999, and the way was clear for “Gilly” to hold both posts. He played a total of 95 test matches, with a world record number of wicketkeeping dismissals.
Wicketkeeper and Batsman
In addition to his skills as wicketkeeper, Gilchrist was also an outstanding top order batsman. Particularly in the one-day series he showed an ability to judge a match and score crucial runs quickly, as shown in his excellent one-day international strike rate of 96.89.
Even in the slower arena of test cricket, he was known for a talent in putting quick runs on the board, often helping win a test match that was headed for a draw. In the third Ashes Test at the WACA ground in Perth, Gilchrist scored the fastest Australian test century ever, reaching the one hundred runs in a mere 57 balls over 99 minutes, falling short of Viv Richards’ world record by a single ball. Gilchrist’s test average stands at 47.90 with a high score of 204 not out. He holds the record for most six-run boundaries in test cricket.
Controversy over the "Walking" Incident
The most controversial moment in Gilchrist’s career came during the 2003 World Cup. In the semi-final match against Sri Lanka, Gilchrist caught a ball on the edge of his bat, which carried to the Sri Lankan slips cordon. In Gilchrist’s book “Walking to Victory”(Macmillan, 2003), he describes the moment: “I stood and turned to see that [Kumar] Sangakkara had it. I knew I was done. It was so obvious.”Not so obvious to the umpire, who called the catch not out. When most other players would have stood their ground, Gilchrist corrected the mistake and walked from the field. In explaining his actions later, Gilchrist said he “felt it was time that players made a stand to take back responsibility for the game.”
Gilchrist’s retirement comes at the end of a controversial cricket season in Australia, when accusations of poor sportsmanship have been thrown at the Australian team, and a day after Gilchrist passed South African Mark Boucher’s record of 414 test dismissals by a wicketkeeper .
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