Adam Gilchrist's debut in International Cricket

Australia’s most prolific wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist made his debut for his national side at Faridabad, India in a tightly contested match against Hansie Cronje’s South Africa. Gilchrist managed just 18 before fast bowler Allan Donald ended his 22-ball stay at the wicket that day. Gilchrist has since gone on to score a further 9601 ODI runs in an illustrious cricketing career as a batsman for the Australian cricket team.

It was a further 3 years before Gilchrist made his Test match debut. In November 1999, the Pakistan Cricket Team, led by left-arm fast bowler Wasim Akram toured Australia for a three Match Test series. Batting second in the first Test match at the Gabba, Australia were looking to score heavily in response to Pakistan’s 367. Opener Michael Slater swung his way to a breathtaking 169, while Mark Waugh batted himself to his 17th Test Match century. When Pakistan’s Shoaib Akthar trapped Ricky Ponting leg before wicket for a duck, Australia were trailing Pakistan by a further 15 runs.

Gilchrist walked out to bat at number 7 and soon enough, he took the attack to the Pakistan bowlers. With his unique high-on-the-handle grip of the cricket bat, he made run scoring look easy and played the ball to all parts of the ground with minimum effort. Gilchrist was finally dismissed for 81, but he scored those runs at a strike rate of 92.04, a sign of things to come from the great man for the rest of his career as a batsman. The 81 at the Gabba was, however only a pre-cursor to the real deal. Gilchrist smashed his way to an incredible, match-wiinning 149* off 163 balls, and turned the odds in a Test Match that seemed to be all lost for the Australians at one point. Australia won the Hobart Test Match and Gilchrist won the first Man-of-the-Match award of his career in his second Test.

Brought into the Australian side to replace a struggling Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist has ensured that he carried forward the Australian cricketing legacy of producing quality wicket-keepers who are more than handy with the bat as well. Gilchrist stands second on the list of the highest number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in Test Cricket with 416 Test dismissals and holds the record for the highest number of dismissals by a wicket-keeper in One Day Cricket with 472 dismissals. Gilchrist has also hit exactly 100 sixes in Test Match cricket, the highest by an individual batsman in the longest format of the game.