In praise of Adam

not for those of you who are not fans of big-eared Australian cricketers...  one of the huge advantages of my enforced absence and idleness (well apart from ten minute bouts of leg lifting and the odd bit of emailing) is that I have been able to indulge in extreme cricket watching.  February sees a sideshow of England screwing up against the Kiwis but the main event is the Gilly farewell tour aka the Commonwealth Bank triangulate series between Australia, India and Sri Lanka.  Since the great Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement from non excessively remunerated cricket during the fourth test last month, this is Australia's and our chance to say goodbye to a fantastic cricketer.

What is so good about him.  There are the ears - positively Richard Wilson-esque (see AC diaries page 200 something) (and, Prince Charles excepted, I have always had a very soft spot for big ears). The fact that despite the ears, he manages to be an incredibly aerodynamic aerobatic wicket-keeper.  But the real thing is the way he bats. The power.  The Bothamesque excitement when he comes to the crease. The way he hits the ball - and the way he has transformed how one-day cricket is played -- though that may be more the legacy of the 1996 Sri Lankan world cup victory and the relaisisaiotn of just how many runs you can score in the first fifteen overs of one day international.  But more than any of these Adam Gilchrist has transformed the way test cricket is played -- as part of the Waigh revolution that meant that 3 an over now seems very meagre fare indeed as the Australians upped scoring rates to 4 an over.  And he also played fairer tha most other cricketers of his generation.

Just as I can never answer the question of when I started to love cricket, nor can I remember when I became a mad Gilchrist fan.  And it has caused much grief -- wanting to have one member of the opposition to succeed big time, while the team loses. And despite many attempts to see my hero in real life, too many attempts have been lamentable failures or near misses.  I was in Spain during the 2001 Ashes and saw a rump of a day at Lords and the Waugh twins bat England out of the game and declare before Gilchirst needed to bat at the Oval -- and that was the series where Gilchrist kept on turning games when England looked to be creating good positions, reducing the Aussies to 100-5 only for AG to help them put on 200 plus for the last five.  And one of the reasons the Aussies lost in 2005 was that Gilchrist had a miserable series.  I just missed his record one day score at Hobart in 2004 - deciding there was no point staying in Tasmania for the one-sided travesty that would be Australia vs Zimbabwe.  And I missed that on TV by lokcing myself out of my friend's flat in Sydney. I missed his fastest test century in Perth that finally won the Ashes back in 2006 -- and haven't even seen it on TV as I was with TV-free friends in Tasmania... But I did see other great innings on television but also a great century in Sydney live in 2003 -- when I witnessed the rarest of combinations -- a Gilchrist century and an England win.  No need to choose.

So having just watched his hundred today in his last game at the WACA -- and the great scenes as he walked on and off, suffice to say that he will be missed -- by all the wicketkeeper batsmen who fail to be the next Gilchrist (a list of England failures - Geraint Jones, Matt Prior, Paul Nixon, Phil Mustard ...); by all the opposition atatcks who are less likely to see balls sail over the boudary for effortless sixes; by squash balls who will no longer need to be cut in half; by Australina who will have to enthuse about Brad Haddin... but also by me.  At least for the next Ashes I will be able to be totally unambivalently pro-England.

so as the signs at the WACA said today -- thanks Gilly -- and here's to some more cracking innings over the next couple of weeks. And then I might just have to have an SD dilaogue which coincides with the Indian cricket league - or maybe you would finanlly like to play county cricket - for Surrey.