Adam Gilchrist set to retire

JAzz

JAzz

JAzz

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http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/333484.html

Bloody hell, this announcement has come out of the blue! :eek:

Great great player imo, will go down as the all time great wicket keeper imo. Probably better keepers around but nobody has been consistent with bat and gloves over the years like him. He has re-defined the role of Wicket keeper and now every team is trying to find their own version of Adam Gilchrist. How many times did he come in at number 6 or 7 and when the opposition team thought they had the Aussies a run a ball century from Gilchrist would tilt the tide back in their favour, even in the ODI version of the game he has been superb opening the attack.

Don't usually like the Aussies but I was a big fan of him, unlike the rest of their lot was always an honest player and always great to watch. Been as important as Warne and McGrath have been over the years for them, they are gonna find it hard to replace him.
 
Great news for the rest of the world tbh, he's been an absolute legend for them and for cricket in general. Sad to see him retire in terms of his sheer talent, but selfishly as an England fan, quite glad. Trouble is, they've probably have got a mk2 ready and waiting :(
 
Great player, one of my fave. I doubt it would make much of a difference to the teams performance though. The loss of Warne and McGrath hasn't affected them at all.
 
great servent to australia and cricket. One of few players who plays in spirit of gamme and walks. will be a big loss. Don't australia have brad haddin to take his place? think hes played few odi's already
 
Wonder if this decision came in the light of some alleged suspect form and the likes of Steve Waugh sticking the boot in? He's also just broken the world record for dismissals so maybe he's happy to hang up his baggy green now.

A shame really as he is one of the most destructive test cricketers around, last time I checked he has a strikerate of over 80 which is almost unheard of in the 5-day game. Even so-called 'explosive' players like Pietersen aren't even close to that.
 
Only one of a few Australian Cricketers I enjoy watching ;) Sad news tbh he still is in a class above the majority of players out there :(
 
Now he's got the record, a good time to bow out I think, although the Aussies will miss him badly, he's served them very well over the years, great news for the rest of us though.:D
 
One of the all time greats imo. Made the wicketkeeper/batsman a role all teams look for now (look how many keepers England have gone through trying to find a Gilchrist)

Huge void to fill by his replacement but probably the right time to go as it gives Haddin or whoever replaces him 18 months or so to get ready for the Ashes.
 
  • 5,556 runs

  • 17 centuries

  • Top score of 204 not out

  • Average of 47.89 with the bat

  • 149 from 104 balls in the World Cup last year

  • World record for most Test dismissals as a wicket-keeper

Adam Gilchrist is a wicketkeeper/batsman without equal; a brilliant cricketer; a sportsman; a gentleman.

As a fellow West Australian I am sad to see him go, but I believe he's chosen the right time. Thanks for the games, Gilly. You've made your nation proud. :)
 
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Big Kev said:
Now he's got the record, a good time to bow out I think, although the Aussies will miss him badly, he's served them very well over the years, great news for the rest of us though.:D
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My thoughts exactly. He's been brilliant for the game. Course he's knackered all the other teams looking for their own version of him. :D

I think the Aussies will miss him a lot. McGrath and Langer had ready made replacements playing alongside them for a while. How do you play two wicket keepers? You can't really, you'd have to drop Gilchrist and play his protege(s).

So I think this will hurt Australia more than McGrath going. The Aussie selectors are quite well known for dumping great players when they are nearly over the hill. Steve Waugh got dropped didn't he?

So I think with what he's done for the game, both for Australia and Test/ODI cricket and the fact he's recently taken the keeper dismissals records and he is in his mid 30s now is the best time to go. He chooses to retire and the Aussies/fans of cricket will forever wish he'd played on a bit longer. He'd want that rather than play a few matches too many and his fans think he should have gone ages ago.

He's won World Cups, Ashes series, demolished other teams and formed excellent partnerships with the likes of Warne to ensure teams have no chance of threatening to beat Australia on a regular basis. He absolutely mashed Sri Lanka in the last World Cup and is the first/only man to have knocked 100 6s in Test cricket. What a man!

And I'm English! :o Can't wait to see him go. :p
 

New South Wales gloveman Brad Haddin is widely regarded by former cricketers as the primary candidate to replace retiring Australian wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.

[...]

Haddin, a dashing wicketkeeper-batsman in a similar mould to Gilchrist, has been his understudy in recent years.

Haddin, who was among the players Gilchrist telephoned after making his decision, has played 26 one-day internationals for Australia.

A member of Australia's World Cup-winning squad in 2007, the right-hander debuted for Australia in limited-overs cricket in 2001 and has scored 693 runs in those matches at 31.50, and completed 35 dismissals.
​

ABC.

:)
 
Braddin is 30, I think Gilchrist was 28 when he debuted for the Aussie ODI so they are of similar ages at debut. Course the question is can Haddin hang around for 6 years? Gilchrist is 36 so he's had the gloves for a while. Will his successor hang around for as long or is Haddin a short-term replacement with another younger keeper batsman being given a few years more to prove he's the long term choice?
 
It's worth remembering that he took the gloves from Ian Healy who was a very good keeper and not only ensured he wasn't missed but added something with the Bat. That he mastered both shows how good he was.

He's still the best of all the keeper-batsmen, Sangakara is a better batsmen but just isn't the keeper that Gilchrist is and dropped too many. Nobody else comes close really...

Australia will miss him, Haddin doesn't look anywhere near as good, his keeping isn't as natural or as good and he scores less and slower. He might tide australia over until the next generation but I can't see him ever turning a match like Gilchrist did.
 
bigredshark - That is what I've been saying, or trying to at least. :p

Gilchrist has come in and made everyone forget the previous Australian wicket keeper. He's also changed the role in a similar way that Shane Warne changed the perception of spin bowling. However I really don't think Haddin is from the same mould as Gilchrist. Gilchrist is a one off and when I read the Haddin was to take over, his stats just didn't impress me as much as Gilchrist's do.

I'm sure Australia have a wicket keeper batsman somewhere in his early to mid 20s who just needs a few years to be ready.

I also think that you can have three kind of keepers. Some who are more batsmen than keepers (Kumar Sangakara as you mentioned), those who are better keepers than batsmen (Prior perhaps?) and those who are the perfect combination (Gilchrist).
 
MarcLister said:
bigredshark - That is what I've been saying, or trying to at least. :p

I also think that you can have three kind of keepers. Some who are more batsmen than keepers (Kumar Sangakara as you mentioned), those who are better keepers than batsmen (Prior perhaps?) and those who are the perfect combination (Gilchrist).
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prior was brought in as a batsmen who could keep, but his keeping has been shambolic hence being dropped. Read was the other way, but i think selectors have to realise that a keeper who averages 30 and is a good glovemen may be best option. omly got to look at wicket keeper problem since stewart left the side(he was a very underattered keeper/ batsmen, although his average does have scores when he was jsut an opener)
 
Yeah we were meant to have a decent keeper batsman in Prior but after a good start he got too cocky and just failed. Read was an excellent keeper but just couldn't score. :o

The two keepers we have for the New Zealand tour look to be part of the future and perhaps we've found our first proper keepers since Stewart left.

I do agree that Stewart was very underrated. Just look at the fact that we've had Geraint Jones/Chris Read/Matt Prior since Stewart left. We just find anyone good enough. Stewart did of course benefit from his average being altered by the fact that he was just a batsman and an opener for a part of his career so he didn't have the strains of keeping on him at that time. :)
 
I think a large part of the problem is that keeping is very tiring and very hard work (witness Sangakara becoming even better as a batsman after giving up the gloves) and more than a few batsman who could have been very capable keepers didn't make the effort and concentrated on their batting instead (a complete novice in Solanki did nicely in the 20-20 and Trescothick is a very reasonable stand in - potentially if they'd tried they could have played s keeper batsmen).

Yet another note of respect to Gilchrist, keeping and openning in ODIs deserves serious respect. I can testify first hand (at a somewhat lower level obviously) that it's incredibly hard to open the batting when you've been crouching behind the stumps for 50 overs...
 
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