All Time XI
Make a selection of your all time Test Cricket XI from the 120 years of Test Cricket history. In all probability, the player at No. 7 in your all time list would be Adam Gilchrist. Apart from Sir Don Bradman and Sir Gary Sobers, Gilchrist has become the third automatic choice for the all time honour.
Figure this out
Tests: 68, Runs: 4452, Avg: 55.65, HS: 204*, 100/50: 15/20, S/R: 83.26, Ct/St: 260/27.
ODIs: 209, Runs: 6969, Avg: 35.55, HS: 172, 100/50: 10/41, S/R: 94.98, Ct/St: 306/41.
To put these figures into perspective:
His Test Strike Rate of 83.26 places him at Number 1 ahead of Kapil Dev(79.33), Virender Sehwag(72.63) and Viv Richards(68.83), among those with at least 1000 Test runs.
His Test Average of 55.65 places him higher than Matthew Hayden(53.47), Brian Lara(52.85) and Inzamam-ul-Haq(50.02).
His 287 Test Dismissals at 4.22 Dismissals per Test places him at Number 1 ahead of Mark Boucher(3.86), Rod Marsh(3.7) and Wally Grout(3.67).
His ODI Strike Rate of 94.98 places him higher than Virender Sehwag(94.83), Andrew Flintoff(92.95) and Vivian Richards(90.20).
His ODI Average of 35.55 places him higher than Herschelle Gibbs(35.14), Nathan Astle(34.8) and Virender Sehwag(33.58).
His 347 ODI Dismissals place him at Number 1 ahead of Moin Khan(214/73), Mark Boucher(261/12) and Ian Healy(194/39)
The Gilchrist Effect
Replacing Ian Healy, Test Cricket’s most successful wicketkeeper with 395(366/29) dismissals and a very popular cricketer, is not one of the easiest jobs on the planet. Adam Gilchrist, playing in his second test match against Pakistan at Hobart in Nov 1999, came in at 5/126 in the second innings chasing a victory target of 369 with more than a day to play out. Before tea on the last day, Australia won the match with Gilchrist remaining unbeaten on 149. Gilchrist’s arrival had turned the Australian cricket team from powerful to overpowering. The Gilchrist Effect was such that it was only in his 16th Test match at Kolkota in Mar 2001, did he face a result other than a win. A superhuman second innings effort by VVS Laxman(281) ensured that Australia would not win the match and Harbhajan Singh(7/123 & 6/73) ensured that Australia would not save it either. If any further proof was required that Australia’s cricketing fortunes were directly related to Gilchrist’s, it was that Gilchrist’s score in the match was 0 & 0. In the VB Series in Australia in 2001/02, Gilchrist scored 97 runs in 7 matches at 16.16, resulting in Australia finishing third best in the triangular contest with SA and NZ. Gilchrist had directly affected Australia’s cricketing fortunes once more and Steve Waugh was sacked as both captain and player from the ODI game. In these circumstances, Australia toured South Africa in a series billed as the battle for the best Test team in the world. Adam Gilchrist scored the then fastest double hundred in Test Cricket by scoring an unbeaten 204 against South Africa at Johannesburg in Feb 2002. The 200 came in 212 balls. Australia beat South Africa in the first test by an innings and 360 runs. The series was won by Australia 2-1 after leading 2-0. The man of the series was Adam Gilchrist with 473 runs at an average of 157.66 against the second best team in the world.
In his 68 Test Matches to date, Gilchrist has been on the winning side 52 times, 8 times on the losing side and 8 draws. He has been voted as the’Most Valuable Player’ in a popular survey held by a Cricket website with an incredible 70% of the votes ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and many more modern day greats. Truly a colossus. All said and done,
Adam Gilchrist is the first name and the last word in cricket entertainment.
Added on 17/02/2015
Tests: 96, Runs: 5570, Avg: 47.60, HS: 204*, 100/50: 17/26, S/R: 81.95, Ct/St: 379/37.
ODIs: 287, Runs: 9619, Avg: 35.89, HS: 172, 100/50: 16/55, S/R: 94.98, Ct/St: 417/55.