- Finest Wicket Keeper batsman I have ever seen.
He will be missed greatly. Saw some glimpses of his brilliance in Perth against India but bowled cheaply by Sehwag. Had he stayed in that innings, the result would have been different. He is the man of big occasions. So many times Gilly has given us a treat of aggressive batting.
As cricinfo notes - "Adam Gilchrist, who revolutionised the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman, Gilchrist played 96 Tests, the same number as Rod Marsh, and has collected 414 dismissals, currently one more than South Africa's Mark Boucher"
He has been instrumental in Australia's one day success. Coming as an opener and thrashing bowlers all over the place is his trademark style. His game against the short bowling is next to nobody in contemporary cricket. Gilchrist brought a limited-overs approach to Tests, becoming the first man to launch 100 sixes in the format, registering the most centuries by a wicketkeeper-batsman, and scoring at a phenomenal strike-rate in the low 80s.
He is truly the best keeper of his times or may be in the history of cricket. Peter Roebuck notes "Yet to characterise Gilchrist as a cavalier is to underestimate his craftsmanship and his contribution. Guarding the stumps was his primary duty, a role he carried out with an athleticism and skill that spoke of substantial skill and unfailing stamina. It was no easy task to replace as superb a gloveman as Ian Healy, into whose hands the ball nestled like a bird in a nest. Gilchrist met the challenge with aplomb, not so much ignoring the hisses that greeted him as turning them into cheers by sheer weight of performance and freshness of character."
As cricinfo notes - "Adam Gilchrist, who revolutionised the role of the wicketkeeper-batsman, Gilchrist played 96 Tests, the same number as Rod Marsh, and has collected 414 dismissals, currently one more than South Africa's Mark Boucher"
He has been instrumental in Australia's one day success. Coming as an opener and thrashing bowlers all over the place is his trademark style. His game against the short bowling is next to nobody in contemporary cricket. Gilchrist brought a limited-overs approach to Tests, becoming the first man to launch 100 sixes in the format, registering the most centuries by a wicketkeeper-batsman, and scoring at a phenomenal strike-rate in the low 80s.
He is truly the best keeper of his times or may be in the history of cricket. Peter Roebuck notes "Yet to characterise Gilchrist as a cavalier is to underestimate his craftsmanship and his contribution. Guarding the stumps was his primary duty, a role he carried out with an athleticism and skill that spoke of substantial skill and unfailing stamina. It was no easy task to replace as superb a gloveman as Ian Healy, into whose hands the ball nestled like a bird in a nest. Gilchrist met the challenge with aplomb, not so much ignoring the hisses that greeted him as turning them into cheers by sheer weight of performance and freshness of character."
