Farewell Adam
Batsmen and bowlers alike will have breathed a sigh of relief this week when Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement from international cricket. Many England fans may have celebrated, believing this to be the beginning of the end of Australia's dominance of the game, and offering England a scintilla of hope ahead of the 2009 Ashes series. I wouldn't hold your breath.
I myself was rather surprised, and to be honest, a little sad. To me, Adam Gilchrist has been the Don Bradman of batsmen/keepers, and it has been a privilege to have witnessed his brilliance, heartbreaking as it may have been at times.
To have broken the record for the number of dismissals in test matches by a keeper, and to average 48 at the astonishing strike rate of 82 runs per hundred balls simply puts him in a class of his own, which I don't think will ever be matched.
I think my most enduring memory of this extraordinary talent will be from the disastrous 2006/07 Ashes series. Even though England were taking a severe beating, I was willing him to make the fastest ever test hundred, and slightly disappointed when he couldn't quite pull it off. I will also remember celebrating his being dismissed during the 2005 Ashes series more than any of the other Aussie batsmen - he was always the one player who could turn any match on his head.
To boot, from what I've heard he is an extremely nice guy and whilst if I were a cricketer I'd probably subscribe to the "let the umpires make the decisions and it will even itself out" viewpoint, there's always something quaintly nice about someone who will walk when he knows he is out. It certainly doesn't tie in with the current Australian "win at all costs" mentality, but it didn't seem to make much difference to Gilchrist's record.
Farewell Adam, and good luck. Not everyone will admit it, but we're gonna miss you.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, January 2008
I myself was rather surprised, and to be honest, a little sad. To me, Adam Gilchrist has been the Don Bradman of batsmen/keepers, and it has been a privilege to have witnessed his brilliance, heartbreaking as it may have been at times.
To have broken the record for the number of dismissals in test matches by a keeper, and to average 48 at the astonishing strike rate of 82 runs per hundred balls simply puts him in a class of his own, which I don't think will ever be matched.
I think my most enduring memory of this extraordinary talent will be from the disastrous 2006/07 Ashes series. Even though England were taking a severe beating, I was willing him to make the fastest ever test hundred, and slightly disappointed when he couldn't quite pull it off. I will also remember celebrating his being dismissed during the 2005 Ashes series more than any of the other Aussie batsmen - he was always the one player who could turn any match on his head.
To boot, from what I've heard he is an extremely nice guy and whilst if I were a cricketer I'd probably subscribe to the "let the umpires make the decisions and it will even itself out" viewpoint, there's always something quaintly nice about someone who will walk when he knows he is out. It certainly doesn't tie in with the current Australian "win at all costs" mentality, but it didn't seem to make much difference to Gilchrist's record.
Farewell Adam, and good luck. Not everyone will admit it, but we're gonna miss you.
Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, January 2008
posted by Jon | 9:40 pm
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