Adam Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist

Australia

Full name Adam Craig Gilchrist
Born November 14, 1971, Bellingen, New South Wales
Current age 35 years 107 days
Major teams Australia, ICC World XI, New South Wales, Western Australia
Nickname Gilly, Churchy
Playing role Wicketkeeper batsman
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Fielding position Wicketkeeper
Height 1.86 m

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	90	129	19	5353	204*	48.66	6505	82.29	17	24	652	97	344	37
ODIs	257	250	9	8585	172	35.62	8915	96.29	14	48	1041	126	376	46
Twenty20 Int.	4	4	0	65	48	16.25	48	135.41	0	0	5	5	1	0
First-class	182	269	45	10002	204*	44.65			30	40			714	55
List A	321	309	17	10138	172	34.71			16	56			484	55
Twenty20	4	4	0	65	48	16.25	48	135.41	0	0			1	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	90	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0
ODIs	257	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0
Twenty20 Int.	4	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0
First-class	182	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0
List A	321	12	10	0	-	-	-	5.00	-	0	0	0
Twenty20	4	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	Australia v Pakistan at Brisbane - Nov 5-9, 1999
Last Test	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 2-5, 2007
ODI debut	Australia v South Africa at Faridabad - Oct 25, 1996
Last ODI	Australia v England at Sydney - Feb 11, 2007
Twenty20 Int. debut	New Zealand v Australia at Auckland - Feb 17, 2005
Last Twenty20 Int.	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 9, 2007
First-class span	1992/93 - 2006/07
List A span	1992/93 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2004/05 - 2006/07

Notes

One-Day International Player of the Year - 2003
One-Day International Player of the Year - 2004

Profile

Going in first or seventh, wearing whites or coloureds, Adam Gilchrist has been the symbolic heart of Australia's steamrolling agenda and the most exhilarating cricketer of the modern age. He is simultaneously a cheerful throwback to more innocent times, a flap-eared country boy who has walked when given not out in a World Cup semi-final, and swatted his second ball for six while sitting on a Test pair. "Just hit the ball," is how he once described his philosophy on batting, and he seldom strays from it. Employing a high-on-the-handle grip, he pokes good balls into gaps and throttles most others, invariably with head straight, wrists soft and balance sublime. Only at the death does he jettison the textbook, whirling his bat like a hammer-thrower, caring only for the scoreboard and never his average. Still he manages to score at a tempo - 82 per 100 balls in Tests, 96 in one-dayers - that makes Viv Richards and Gilbert Jessop look like stick-in-the-muds.

When he signed a record A$2million sponsorship deal with Puma in 2004, few people questioned his value for money. Indeed it was arguably Gilchrist's belated Test arrival that turned the present Australian XI from powerful to overpowering. He bludgeoned 81 on debut, pouched five catches and a stumping, and has barely paused for breath since. Only in the last two years has his appetite slowed - he was troubled by Andrew Flintoff's around-the-wicket barrage during 2005 and found the flaw difficult to overcome - and his match-turning 144 against Bangladesh in April 2006 was his first century in 16 Tests. The 2006-07 Ashes series was literally hit and miss, with three single-figure scores, two fifties and his most brutal hundred, while his one-day form was subdued.

In Tests, three Gilchrist innings rank among the most amazing by Australians: his death-defying unbeaten 149 against Pakistan at Hobart when all seemed lost, his savage and emotional 204 not out against South Africa at Johannesburg, and his 57-delivery Ashes century at Perth when he missed equalling Viv Richards' world mark by a ball. In one-dayers, his 172 is the third-highest score by an Australian and his overall number of career dismissals - he is currently at 422 - might take decades to top. A devoted family man, his entry into the 2007 tournament was expected to be delayed while attending the birth of his third child.

As Australia's 41st Test captain he found the extra burden tiring, and was happy for Ricky Ponting to step in once Steve Waugh retired. But as Ponting's fill-in he crossed the final frontier, leading Australia to their first series win in India for 35 years in 2004-05. As a wicketkeeper he lacks Rod Marsh's acrobatics and Ian Healy's finesse, and he probably peaked at 30 in 2002. But if he clutches few screamers he drops even fewer sitters and while his batting has started to lose its super powers his glovework is still purring. He is closing on Healy's record of 395 Test dismissals and already owns the most centuries of anyone to combine both roles.