Sunday, March 23, 2014
ADAM CRAIG GILCHRIST, (born
14 November 1971), nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy" is a
former Australian cricketer who has captained Kings XI
Punjab and Middlesex. He is an attacking
left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who
redefined the role for the Australian national team through his aggressive
batting. He is considered to be one of the greatest wicket-keeper–batsmen in
the history of the game. He
holds the world record for the most dismissals by a wicket keeper in One
Day International(ODI) cricket and the most by an Australian in Test
cricket. 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
second-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.
Gilchrist is renowned for walking when he considers
himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire. He
made his first-class debut in 1992, his first One-Day International
appearance in 1996 in India and his Test debut in 1999. During
his career, he played for Australia in 96 Test matches and over 270 One-day
internationals. He was Australia's vice-captain in both forms of the
game, captaining the team when regular captains Steve Waugh and Ricky
Ponting were unavailable. He retired from
international cricket in March 2008.
In March 2013, he announced that he would join the Caribbean
Premier League, a Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies in
July along with teammate Ricky Ponting.
Adam Gilchrist was born in 1971
at Bellingen Hospital, in Bellingen, New South Wales, the youngest of four
children. He and his family lived in Dorrigo, Junee and then Deniliquin where, playing for his school,
Deniliquin South Public School, he won the Brian Taber Shield (named after New South Wales cricketer Brian Taber). At the age of 13, his
parents, Stan and June, moved the family to Lismore where Gilchrist captained the Kadina High School cricket team. Gilchrist was selected for the state
under-17 team, and in 1989 he was offered a
scholarship by London-based
Richmond Cricket Club, a scheme he now supports himself. During his year at Richmond, he also
played junior cricket for Old
Actonians Cricket Club's under 17
team, with whom he won the Middlesex League and Cup double. He moved to Sydney
and joined the Gordon Club in Sydney
Grade Cricket, later moving to Northern Districts.
Gilchrist
is married to his high school sweetheart Melinda (Mel) Gilchrist (née Sharpe),
a dietitian, and they have three
sons, Harrison, Archie and Ted, and a daughter, Annie Jean. His family came under the spotlight in
the months leading up to the 2007
Cricket World Cup as Archie's
impending birth threatened his presence in the squad; Archie was born in
February and Gilchrist was able to take part in the tournament.
Gilchrist's attacking batting has
been a key part of Australia's one-day success, as he usually opens the batting.
He was a part of the successful1999, 2003 and 2007
Cricket World Cup campaigns. Gilchrist's Test batting average in
the upper 40s is unusually high for a wicket-keeper. He is currently 45th on the all–time
list of highest batting averages. He
maintains a Test strike-rate of 82 runs per hundred balls, the highest since
balls were recorded in full. His combination of attack and consistency create
one of the most dynamic world cricketers ever,playing shots to all areas of
the field with uncommon timing. Gilchrist's skills as a wicket-keeper are
sometimes questioned; some people would claim that he is the best keeper in
Australia while Victorian wicket-keeper Darren Berry was regarded by many as the best
Australian wicket-keeper of the 1990s and early 2000s.
In this
role, Gilchrist is perhaps disadvantaged by his relatively tall stature for a
pure wicket-keeper. However, while perhaps not as elegant as some, he has
successfully kept wicket for spin
bowler Shane Warne and fast
bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett
Lee for most of his international
career. His partnerships with McGrath and Lee are second and fourth
respectively in both test and ODI history for the number of wickets taken. With Alec
Stewart and Mark Boucher, he shares the record for
most catches (6) by a wicketkeeper in a ODI match, however he has now achieved
this feat five times, the most recent versus India in 2008 CB Series. The match in 2007 was also the second
time he took six dismissals and scored a half century in the same
ODI; he remains the only player to do so even once. At Old
Trafford in August 2005, he
passed Alec Stewart's world record of 4,540 runs as a Test wicketkeeper. Statistically,
he is currently the most successful ODI wicket-keeper in history; with 417
catches and 55 stumpings, a total of 472 dismissals, his closest rival, Mark
Boucher, is more than 80 dismissals behind.
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