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Gilly rampage stuns a nation

Source: Herald Sun - December 17, 2006

We thought Adam Gilchrist was skating when he reached his 50 in 40 balls yesterday ...then the tornado hit.

Gilchrist bounded from 50 to 100 in a barely believable 17 balls.

His century came off 57 balls, missing Viv Richards's 20-year-old record by a single delivery.

His chance to break the record on ball 55 was thwarted when Matthew Hoggard bowled wide, well outside off stump.

The next ball he hit to long off for a single.

And spare a thought for Monty Panesar, who had bowled so well previously, only to find himself under siege.

Remarkably, Gilchrist scored from only two of his first eight balls and there was no sign he was about to crucify a weary attack.

Gilchrist's first four was a streaky glide off old nemesis Andrew Flintoff, but his second, off the same bowler, was a confidence booster -- a rasping back foot cover drive that threaded the in-field perfectly.

From that point his timing was honey sweet.

A telling sign that his feet were working well came when he galloped forward to Panesar and hit him through the covers for four, then retreated back to caress him to the third man fence.

The 107th over of the innings, bowled by Panesar, will be one spectators will remember.

Gilchrist sent his home crowd into a delirious chant of "Gilly Gilly" as he dispatched Panesar in a 6-6-4-6 sequence.

His three sixes featured quick footwork but his four was as good as any of them -- a calculated swipe across his body where he picked up the ball from off-side and drilled it through midwicket.

Panesar knew it was the end of his day.

Flintoff came over to him and offered him his right hand. He shook it and nodded his head as if to say "well, what can you do?"

By this time Gilchrist was walking with the gods and even though there were as many as seven men on the fence he found space.

His last three fours all came in the one over off Steve Harmison.

By the end of his innings, his total of Test match sixes was 97 -- nine more than anyone in the game.

It was a true reflection of the quality of one of the greatest power players cricket has seen.

- ROBERT CRADDOCK