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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Adam Gilchrist – The modern day Richards 19th Jan 2007 23.01 IST By Manish Kumar Former West Indies captain and batting great Vivian Richards has said that Australia’s dashing wicket-keeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist played much like him. And there might only be a handful who would argue with what Richards has said because Gilchrist has been a force of nature with an ability to destroy the opposition in a very short period of time and this has led him to be known as 'The Demolition Man'. Gilchrist has revolutionized the role of the wicket-keeper in the team with his aggressive batting and is now considered to be one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the history of the game and currently holds the record for the second fastest century in Test match history.
His aggressive batting and ability as wicketkeeper has meant that Gilchrist has become a vital member of the Australian side, his importance underlined by the fact he has captained Australia in both forms of the game. Gilchrist was captain of the Australian side (in place of the injured Ricky Thomas Ponting ) that won the series 2-1 on their 2004 tour of India, the first Australian side to do this since 1969. Gilchrist’s Test batting average is just under fifty (considered the sign of a great batsman), at 48.8, remarkably high for a wicket-keeper. He is currently 45th on the all-time list of highest batting averages. At one point in March 2002, his average was over 60, and was the second-highest in Test history. In early 2005, Gilchrist hit three successive centuries against Pakistan and New Zealand. Since the Ashes series against England in 2005, however, Gilchrist's Test form has been in decline. Between the end of the 2005 Ashes series and the commencement of the 2006/2007 series he averaged just 25, with a solitary hundred coming against Bangladesh. After having been rested for two games he returned to his blazing best against Sri Lanka on 29 January 2006 on his home ground the WACA smashing 116 runs off 105 balls to lead Australia to victory. His record as Australian One Day captain now stands at 9 wins and 1 loss. Gilchrist has a full complement of attacking shots, he is equally powerful on the back or front foot, making him extremely difficult to bowl to. Perhaps his main weakness for bowlers to exploit is his very propensity for attacking play. Gilchrist briefly held the record for the fastest double century in Tests, requiring 212 balls for the feat in a Test against South Africa in Johannesburg in January 2002 (the record was then broken in an amazing innings by Nathan Astle in March of that year). Gilchrist's attacking batting has been a key part of Australia's one-day success, as he usually opens the batting. He was a key part of the successful 1999 and 2003 World Cup campaigns. On December 16, 2006, during the third Ashes Test at the WACA, Gilchrist scored 102 not out in 57 balls, the second fastest recorded Test century. At 97 runs from 54 balls, Gilchrist needed 3 runs from the next ball to better Richards' record set in 1986. The ball delivered by Matthew Hoggard was wide (perhaps deliberately) and thus Gilchrist was unable to score successfully from it. Gilchrist's innings was reminiscent of his one-day match batting style, that of quick, crowd-pleasing scoring and stroke play. He later claimed that the astonishing slogfest was inspired by a miscommunication with his captain Ponting, misinterpreting a directive not to score quick runs with a view to declaring the innings. Gilchrist is the only Australian cricketer currently playing the game, to be in Richie Benaud's Greatest XI and one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2002, was named Australia's One-day International player of the year in 2003 and 2004, selected in the ICC World XI for the charity series against the ACC Asian XI, 2004 and 2005 and was voted as "World's Scariest Batsman" in an exclusive poll of international bowlers Gilchrist holds the record for most sixes in a Test career, with 97 sixes and of the 46 batsmen to have scored more than 5000 one-day international runs, only Gilchrist, Richards and Sri Lanka’s Sanath Teran Jayasuriya have achieved a strike rate in excess of 90. Gilchrist, at 96.39, is almost six runs per hundred balls clear of Richards and Jayasuriya, and is the only batsman of the trio to carry the added burden of wicket-keeping. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: Australia Team Page: West Indies | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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