Australian legends Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting to feature in BBL pre-season match

Gilchrist, Ponting and Warne coming together once again

Australian cricket greats Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting will be back together on the cricket field for the first time since the 2006/07 Ashes Down Under when they take on Perth Scorchers in a KFC Big Bash League (BBL) T20 pre-season match at Aquinas College in Perth on December 10. Some of the other former Australian cricketers set to feature in this encounter are Matthew Hayden, Andy Bichel and Michael Kasprowicz.

This will be the second time in the last 6 months that Warne and Gilchrist, supposed foes during their playing days, will be playing together after retiring in 2007 and 2008, respectively, having featured in the Lord’s bicentennial match in July. But Gilchrist couldn’t keep to Warne on that occasion due to the leg-spinner breaking his right hand while batting, courtesy of a beamer from Brett Lee, and was unable to bowl consequently.

Gilchrist looking forward to keeping to Warne

Gilchrist was extremely disappointed at not having the chance to keep to Warne one more time, but is glad that he will now be getting yet another opportunity.

“Keeping to Warnie again was one of the main reasons that I agreed to play in that match at Lord’s and I was incredibly disappointed when he couldn’t bowl,” Gilchrist told the West Australian. “The highlight of my career was keeping to him and I am glad that I will get another chance this summer.”

Gilchrist hopes that the match, apart from giving BBL defending champions Perth Scorchers a good workout, also provides some excitement to the crowd, with the organisers keen on making the match an annual event.

“This should be an excellent workout for the Scorchers players just before they get to defend their Big Bash title and hopefully we will give a pretty good account of ourselves too,” Gilchrist said.

“It is our intention to make this an annual event just before the start of the Big Bash.

“And the Twenty20 format is perfect for a festival game because there is plenty of action on the field but it does not go long enough to distract from the important action off the field.”

Justin Langer happy with the arrangement

Scorchers coach Justin Langer, who is currently in India for the CLT20, meanwhile, said that the match provides them fantastic preparation leading up to their BBL campaign in addition to giving the players a unique opportunity of coming up against some of the greatest Australian cricketers of all-time.

“It’s a great opportunity for the Scorchers to get back into playing Twenty20 cricket after the one-dayers and Sheffield Shield,” said Langer.

“It’s also an unbelievable opportunity for our players to play against guys like Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne. While it will be fun on the field and it will be nice for them to rub shoulders with them, it’ll also be a fantastic experience. For the fans, they get to see the Scorchers for the first time for the summer and also get to see some of the greats of Australian cricket playing,” he added.