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'Scratchy' Gilchrist is simply sublime

Source: The Australian - January 5, 2005

AS if Pakistan needed a warning as to the danger Adam Gilchrist can wreak, such an alert was broadcast loud and clear in the gathering gloom of Monday evening's final over.

At that point, Gilchrist - promoted one rung to number six in the batting order to accommodate rookie all-rounder Shane Watson - had been at the crease for barely half-an-hour and had compiled 11 runs at a sedate pace.

With two balls in the day's play remaining, his team leading by just 36 runs and his skipper Ricky Ponting watching wearily from the other end, Gilchrist found himself unable to curb his natural instincts.

He went down the pitch to a flighted leg-break from Danish Kaneria and lifted it over the rope at long-on and into the base of the Clive Churchill Stand for a totally unforeseen six.

A combination of that stroke and the context in which it was played concisely summed up why his former captain Steve Waugh described the 33-year-old as "a once in a generation cricketer".

His sublime hitting is the reason Gilchrist was chosen ahead of other undeniably more accomplished glovemen in the greatest team of all time selected by the doyen of television commentators, ex-Test skipper Richie Benaud.

Gilchrist dominated the strike during the early stages of yesterday's union with Ponting, but claimed he felt "scratchy" and was missing his trademark sweet timing for the early part of his innings.

Then he suddenly exploded into a volley of shots, and upon reaching 94 with consecutive sixes was egged on by the crowd to reach triple figures by blasting a third.

"I wasn't being drawn in by the crowd to do what they wanted," Gilchrist said.

"There was a ball there to cover drive for four, but, as I had been doing all day, I was just trying to muscle them a little bit too hard and I mis-hit a few and wasn't timing them overly well.

"So it was never in my mind to hit three in a row."

The Pakistanis' fear that Monday night's Gilchrist blow could turn into a gale the following day were confirmed when the left-hander belted one of the more memorable recent centuries at the SCG.

He has made similar scores in more dire situations and against far more accomplished attacks, but in terms of pure ball-striking yesterday's 113 off 120 deliveries was priceless.

His ability to alter the tempo and complexion of a game within a handful of overs sets Gilchrist apart from other free-scoring batsmen.

When he is in the sort of form and mood he displayed for 104 compelling minutes yesterday, no bowler can subdue him and no field placings can intimidate him.

That was proved at the height of yesterday's onslaught when Gilchrist ensured Pakistan's 22-year-old seamer Mohammad Asif would recall his Test debut with a mixture of ghoulish nightmares and cold sweats.

Having scored 77 out of a 100-run partnership with Ponting, Gilchrist must have been miffed when his thunderous straight drive from Asif smashed into the stumps at the non-striker's end and robbed him of a certain boundary.

The Western Australian's reply was swift and brutal.

The subsequent ball was marginally short, but Gilchrist rocked back and sent it into the seats beyond mid-wicket.

So Asif pitched the next one a little further up, only to see Gilchrist somehow get under it and muscle the ball over the fence at wide mid-on to carry his score to 94.

The crowd's exhortation for a third consecutive six to bring up his 13th Test ton went unrewarded. But the lad from Lismore soon answered their call.

With Asif in need of counselling and replaced by leg-spinner Shahid Afridi, Gilchrist progressed from 99 to 105 with what could have passed for a well-struck five-iron over the bowler's head that hit the sightscreen half-way up.

And even though Pakistan had by that stage surrendered and sent two men deep into the leg-side outfield, Gilchrist audaciously clubbed Afridi over the head of the one at long-on to complete four sixes within 10 balls.

Long before Watson arrived at the crease, the selectors' experiment in shunting Gilchrist up the order had paid off although he maintains he's unlikely to progress any higher than number six.

"I think six is achievable long-term, (but) I think it would be a tough ask to go too much higher particularly if you fielded for a long time and then lost a few early wickets," Gilchrist said.