All original content on this site is © 2004 - 2006 CAITE Inc. All borrowed images and articles remain copyrighted to their owners and no claim of ownership is made.

Gilchrist reveals his distaste for gym work

Source: Khaleej Times - June 9, 2005

Australia's Adam Gilchrist may be the world's most aggressive batsmen but says he is loath to work out in the gym in a bid to further his remarkable strike rate.

With a stunning strike rate of over 83 in Tests and nearly 95 in one-day internationals (ODIs), Gilchrist is presently the most dangerous and more importantly a match-winner in the world.

However, for a batsman who is known for his ferocious pulls and vicious cuts, Gilchrist does not condone gym work to enhance batting skills or power.

The Australian wicketkeeper this week revealed his secret distaste for gym work, saying: "I have come to a point in my career work-wise, whether its playing or training, where I am at a happy balance.

"I am not really excited about lifting weights at the gym," he told the Channel 10 TV network, "When you time the ball correctly and hit the ball correctly in the middle of the bat, it's going to go as fast off the bat for the guy who hasn't lifted a weight in his entire life as for a guy who lifts 150kg."

The 33-year-old Australian vice-captain is currently in England preparing for what has been touted to be the closest Ashes series in two decades.

Since making his ODI debut in 1997/98 against South Africa and Test entrance in 1999/00 against Pakistan, Gilchrist has become the one of the most feared batsman in the world in addition to being a top class wicketkeeper.

However, if he hadn't seen a pair of wicket-keeping gloves in a Victorian shop in 1981, the world could have been looking at a fast bowler.

"Adam wanted to be the fastest bowler in the world before he spotted those gloves," recalls his father Stan.

"Then he wanted to be Rod Marsh there and then."

Marsh is regarded as one of the most successful wicketkeepers in the world and is now the head of the English cricket academy.

Stan and his wife, June, literally set the ball rolling and the stage for Gilchrist's eventual star status in cricket by purchasing the set of gloves from the shop as his Christmas present in 1981.

As with many Australians, who have gone on to damage England's chances at the Test and ODI level, Gilchrist picked up skills during his early playing days at Richmond Club when the English club offered him a scholarship in the eighties.

With 15 hundreds in Tests, 10 in ODIs and tons of victims he holds the record for 10 catches in a Test the man who wanted to be the world's fastest bowler should play an important part for Australia in their Ashes defence against the Old Enemy.

- LAWRENCE MACHADO