Some play for records some for fame some for money but there is a man who plays cricket for entertaining, Yes the greatest batsman today Adam Gilchrist.
Gradually, the greatest team of cricketers to have played the game is breaking up. Warne, McGrath, Langer and Martyn are gone and to their list is now added Adam Gilchrist, the man who redefined the idea that a wicketkeeper should only need to be a skilled glovesman, yet who batted for almost all his Test career at No 7, when any other side would have placed a batsman of his calibre in the top five.
Heroes are inevitably soon replaced by new heroes, who ease the pain of their parting. Australia will find another match-winning spinner before long; in Stuart Clark they have another Glenn McGrath; they have no shortage of excellent batsmen. Yet for all the promise of Gilchrist's likely successors, Brad Hadden, Luke Ronchi or whoever, it is hard to see there being another wicketkeeper out there who can average over 50, as Gilchrist did.
By his brilliance with the bat, married to an undoubted reliability with the gloves, Gilchrist created an idea of what a wicketkeeper should be that few have lived up to, especially in this country. Would Chris Read have played 60 Tests for England by now if it wasn't for Gilchrist? Would Alec Stewart be regarded as a brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman because he averaged almost 40 when he was keeper, rather than a nearly man?
There are so many memories of Gilchrist as a player that stand out - winning a World Cup final with a squash ball stuffed in his glove to improve his batting; his 152 at Edgbaston in 2001 that set up an innings win and got the Ashes off to a bad start for England; his double hundred - at a run a ball! - in Johannesburg as Australia beat South Africa by the astounding matter of an innings
Yet I want to share two memories of Gilchrist the man, because they reveal much about his character. He was not a typical Aussie cricketer. Competitive, yes, but he had a reputation too as a gentleman, an honourable man, one who always regarded playing for Australia as the most immense privilege. In a series when questions have been raised about the spirit of the game, Gilchrist always played in the right spirit.
He had a reputation as a walker and I remember when Australia arrived in England in 2005 for the Ashes, Gilchrist was cheekily asked at a press conference if that good attitude would stand in a close series. If it comes down to the Oval, he was asked, and England need one wicket to win the Ashes, and you get a thin edge behind, would you walk? He paused, smiled and then said: "Ahh mate, if those were the circumstances, there's no way I'd have edged it." He meant - and certainly it was taken this way by all the journalists - that far from feigning innocence to the umpire, he would simply not have played such a rash stroke.
The other memory comes from a week earlier on that tour. As they had in 2001, when Australia visited Gallipolli on the way to England, a team-bonding trip was planned, this time to the war graves and trenches of Normandy. I went along for The Times that day and wrote in this piece how I was moved by the occasion. It was a grim, grey day and the players walked sombrely between the rows of white tombstones. There was no larking about, just solemn reflection of how privileged they were to be representing the same country as these real heroes.
They stood by the war memorial at Villers-Bretonneaux, where Gilchrist was asked to read Lawrence Binyon's ode for the fallen. He was the ideal choice: a prime example of "mateship" yet also a dignified figurehead for modern Australia. He was the statesman of the team. And at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we cricket lovers everywhere shall remember him.
World will forget Sachin they have already forgotten Lara but world will never forget the great Adam Gilchrist - A true Cricketer because cricket is not about creating records but to entertain million people watching. He is everything good about this wonderful sport Cricket.
Good Bye Gilly. Thank You for wonderful memories thank you for honesty thank you for playing cricket for people like me who wants to be entertain. Records are broken and forgotten but people like Gilly Stays in our heart forever.
Gradually, the greatest team of cricketers to have played the game is breaking up. Warne, McGrath, Langer and Martyn are gone and to their list is now added Adam Gilchrist, the man who redefined the idea that a wicketkeeper should only need to be a skilled glovesman, yet who batted for almost all his Test career at No 7, when any other side would have placed a batsman of his calibre in the top five.
Heroes are inevitably soon replaced by new heroes, who ease the pain of their parting. Australia will find another match-winning spinner before long; in Stuart Clark they have another Glenn McGrath; they have no shortage of excellent batsmen. Yet for all the promise of Gilchrist's likely successors, Brad Hadden, Luke Ronchi or whoever, it is hard to see there being another wicketkeeper out there who can average over 50, as Gilchrist did.
By his brilliance with the bat, married to an undoubted reliability with the gloves, Gilchrist created an idea of what a wicketkeeper should be that few have lived up to, especially in this country. Would Chris Read have played 60 Tests for England by now if it wasn't for Gilchrist? Would Alec Stewart be regarded as a brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman because he averaged almost 40 when he was keeper, rather than a nearly man?
There are so many memories of Gilchrist as a player that stand out - winning a World Cup final with a squash ball stuffed in his glove to improve his batting; his 152 at Edgbaston in 2001 that set up an innings win and got the Ashes off to a bad start for England; his double hundred - at a run a ball! - in Johannesburg as Australia beat South Africa by the astounding matter of an innings
Yet I want to share two memories of Gilchrist the man, because they reveal much about his character. He was not a typical Aussie cricketer. Competitive, yes, but he had a reputation too as a gentleman, an honourable man, one who always regarded playing for Australia as the most immense privilege. In a series when questions have been raised about the spirit of the game, Gilchrist always played in the right spirit.
He had a reputation as a walker and I remember when Australia arrived in England in 2005 for the Ashes, Gilchrist was cheekily asked at a press conference if that good attitude would stand in a close series. If it comes down to the Oval, he was asked, and England need one wicket to win the Ashes, and you get a thin edge behind, would you walk? He paused, smiled and then said: "Ahh mate, if those were the circumstances, there's no way I'd have edged it." He meant - and certainly it was taken this way by all the journalists - that far from feigning innocence to the umpire, he would simply not have played such a rash stroke.
The other memory comes from a week earlier on that tour. As they had in 2001, when Australia visited Gallipolli on the way to England, a team-bonding trip was planned, this time to the war graves and trenches of Normandy. I went along for The Times that day and wrote in this piece how I was moved by the occasion. It was a grim, grey day and the players walked sombrely between the rows of white tombstones. There was no larking about, just solemn reflection of how privileged they were to be representing the same country as these real heroes.
They stood by the war memorial at Villers-Bretonneaux, where Gilchrist was asked to read Lawrence Binyon's ode for the fallen. He was the ideal choice: a prime example of "mateship" yet also a dignified figurehead for modern Australia. He was the statesman of the team. And at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we cricket lovers everywhere shall remember him.
World will forget Sachin they have already forgotten Lara but world will never forget the great Adam Gilchrist - A true Cricketer because cricket is not about creating records but to entertain million people watching. He is everything good about this wonderful sport Cricket.
Good Bye Gilly. Thank You for wonderful memories thank you for honesty thank you for playing cricket for people like me who wants to be entertain. Records are broken and forgotten but people like Gilly Stays in our heart forever.
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