Gilchrist is Claremont's No. 1 Ticket Holder

By Ken Casellas

Adam Gilchrist, one of Australia’s most famous sportsmen in the 21^ST century and arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman of all time, is the Claremont Football Club’s No. 1 ticket holder for 2022.

The dynamic Gilchrist mesmerised cricket followers throughout the world during his 12-year international career when his ferocious batting revolutionised the game and helped Australia to rise to the top in Test cricket and one-day internationals.

Records toppled to the dashing and destructive left-hander, who was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in 2002 before he was voted Australia’s one-day international Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He then was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2012 and the ICC Hall of Fame the following year.

For many years Gilchrist has been involved in several charitable organisations, and in 2010 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to cricket and the community.

Gilchrist, born in Bellingen in Northern New South Wales 50 years ago, moved to Western Australia for the 1994-95 season and his magnificent unbeaten 189 off 187 balls in the drawn Sheffield Shield final against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval the following season was major launching pad to his glittering international career.

He earned a silver medal as a member of the Australian side which lost to South Africa in the final of the cricket competition at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.     

He made his Test debut against Pakistan at Brisbane’s Gabba ground in 1999, and then in the second Test at Bellerive Oval in Hobart he scored a magnificent 149 not out in a record-breaking sixth-wicket partnership with Justin Langer to engineer a remarkable victory.

Gilchrist frequently saved his best for the big stage, and he is one of three players to have represented Australia in the side’s triumphs in three consecutive World Cups (against Pakistan in 1999, against India in 2003 and against Sri Lanka in 2007) when his scores were 54 (36 balls), 57 (48 balls) and 149 (104 balls). His superb 149 (13 fours and eight sixes) is rated as the greatest World Cup innings of all time.

It was at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg in 2002 that Gilchrist recorded the fastest Test double century (off 212 deliveries) when he launched a brutal assault against a formidable attack led by Allan Donald, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and Andre Nel.

In the third Test against England in searing heat at the WACA Ground in December 2006 Gilchrist was at his savage best, smashing a 57-ball century which was the second fastest in Test history at the time, just behind the 56-ball hundred of West Indies maestro Viv Richards against England in 1986.

Gilchrist hammered the England attack with a breathtaking display, cruising to 50 off 40 deliveries, before unleashing a vicious assault on left-arm orthodox spinner Monty Panesar. He plundered 24 runs off one over, including three sixes over the long-on fence, and his second 50 came off just 17 balls.

Gilchrist changed the course of so many matches, as an exhilarating big-hitter at No. 7 in Tests and as a dashing opener in limited-overs contests. He served as vice-captain in both forms of the game and had the distinction of leading Australia in six Test matches, winning four of them. He was captain when Australia defeated the home side in India in 2004, giving Australia its first series win in India in 35 years.

He represented Australia with rare distinction in 96 Tests for 73 wins, 11 losses and 12 draws. He retired from Test cricket with a record number of sixes --- exactly a hundred --- and his 5570 Test runs at an average of 47.60 included 17 centuries and 26 fifties. Apart from his one hundred sixes Gilchrist also hammered 675 fours. 

In Tests he took 416 catches and made 37 stumpings, and in an outstanding feat he scored a century against all other nine Test-playing nations. Gilchrist was also a devastating and explosive batsman in his 287 one-day internationals, amassing 9619 runs at 35.89 and including 16 centuries and 55 fifties. Those innings included 149 sixes and 1162 fours. And, for good measure, he held 417 catches and effected 55 stumpings --- a world record for a wicketkeeper.

Claremont welcomes Adam Gilchrist, truly a sporting great, with open arms.