Gilchrist matches brawn with brain

Everyone knew Adam Gilchrist was a bit special, even before the first Ashes Test.

The wicketkeeper/batsman's phenomenal 152 off 143 balls against England at Edgbaston on Saturday merely reinforced the belief.

The 29-year-old Australian, however, reminded everyone of one important point -- that he is not your average number seven slogger.

Yes, his innings included more than a century in boundaries -- 20 fours and five sixes -- and several trademark 'baseball' crossbats over long on and long off.

But Gilchrist rarely hits the ball with anything other than the sweet spot of his broad bat.

He also amply demonstrated that he had the brain to back the brawn when, fast running out of partners, he reached 99 not out, with a last-man rabbit in Glenn McGrath at the other end.

England set the trap, moving a fielder back to deep square leg as Andrew Caddick invited the hook with a bouncer off his last ball of the over.

It was all a bit too transparent for Gilchrist, who simply rocked back on his back foot, held his bat head high and let the ball run off its face and over wicketkeeper Alec Stewart's head for four.

It was the sort of intelligent improvisation which has led to him being named Steve Waugh's vice-captain.

There was even a moment of comic irony on Saturday.

When Gilchrist and McGrath had put on a half-century for the last wicket, television commentator Richie Benaud, presumably with his tongue buried firmly in his cheek, responded: "That is a brilliant 50 partnership."

Partnership? McGrath, at the time, was on nought.

By the time Gilchrist was out, they had put on 65, McGrath contributing a battling single.

METEORIC RISE

Gilchrist's meteoric rise and rise -- he shares the world record of six dismissals in a one-day international and has made 10 dismissals in a test, one below the best performance of all time -- is all the more remarkable since he had such big boots to fill.

Gilchrist sat on the sidelines for years as Ian Healy's understudy, not making his test debut until 18 months ago -- he had broken into the one-day team three years earlier.

The ever-popular Healy eventually departed, an icon of Australian sport. Many doubted that his successor would be able to match him, particularly standing up to Shane Warne's leg-spin.

Some suggested, without malice, that Gilchrist did not have the soft hands required to be a world-class keeper.

Had he not, after all, begun his Sheffield Shield career as a specialist batsman in 1992-3 before being forced to move from New South Wales to Western Australia in an attempt to be treated seriously as a wicketkeeper?

His perceived weakness behind the stumps, however, has not stopped him completing 73 catches and five stumpings in 18 tests -- a superior strike rate to Healy's 366 catches and 29 stumpings in 119 games.

It is his batting, however, which continues to provoke sharp intakes of breath.

He now averages 52.09 in tests, having already scored 1,146 runs in his short career. His major contributions have also come at critical times, each of his three test hundreds effectively winning the game.

EDGBASTON MASTERCLASS

Before his Edgbaston masterclass, which had been provoked in part by Gilchrist's disappointment with his wicketkeeping in the first England innings -- "I was determined to turn my form round, whether it was with the gloves or the bat" -- his previous test best was 149 not out, off 163 balls.

That had come against Pakistan in Hobart in November 1999, in only his second appearance.

Gilchrist had come to the wicket at 126 for five, with Australia in trouble after being set 369 to win. He and Justin Langer duly put on 238 to settle the game.

And earlier this year, he made 122 off 112 balls -- he reached three figures off 84 balls, the second fastest century by an Australian -- to help win the first test against India in Bombay.

He had come in with his side tottering on 99 for five and did not leave until the score had soared to 326.

Not you average number seven slogger. Clearly.

Mail Cricket Editor