Frontline Gillespie lurks in the background

The most extraordinary thing about Jason Gillespie is his anonymity. If the Australian walked into a bar, he would be the last to be served, just after The Invisible Man.

Anonymity is no mean achievement for one of the best -- and tallest -- pace bowlers in the game.

Yet England will be as worried about him as they are about Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne when the teams meet for the second Ashes test at Lord's on Thursday.

Gillespie took five wickets in the first test, removing both England openers in the first innings -- Marcus Trescothick with his first ball -- and ripped away the middle order in the second as he hit the seam at high pace throughout the match.

His performance prompted captain Steve Waugh to say: "Gillespie is as good a bowler as I've ever seen. It's no secret that I have always said he was going to be a fantastic bowler."

By then, however, "Dizzy" -- after the celebrated jazz musician -- had already receded into the background as Warne, for his eight wickets, and man-of-the-match Adam Gilchrist, for his 152, accepted the plaudits.

PONYTAIL REPLACED

The 26-year-old, 6ft 5ins New South Welshman, who arrived on the international scene at the 1996 World Cup wearing a ponytail (he later replaced it with a goatee beard) and an earring, denies that he actively sidesteps attention.

"I don't deliberately stay out of the limelight," he says. "I'm just very shy. I don't like attention."

The greatest block, however, to Gillespie The World-Famous Cricketer has come from a well-recorded propensity to injury.

Certainly he has always been both determined and ambitious. As an 18-year-old, he reportedly bet a school friend 1,000 Australian dollars ($508) that he would play for Australia within five years. He did it within three.

But his body was soon to let him down, time and time again.

The right-arm fast bowler had already injured his back seriously in his second test. There were then groin problems and a back fracture in the 1997 Ashes which sidelined him for 15 months, but only after he had taken a career-best seven for 37 against England at Headingley, Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe among his victims.

FOOT INJURY

More back, knee and hamstring problems followed. In January this year there was another hamstring lay-off, followed by a foot injury during the tour of India which threatened his Ashes trip.

His career, indeed, has been so punctuated by enforced interruptions that he has only played 22 tests in five years. His current run of eight in a row is his best to date.

Gillespie's most famous injury, however, came two years ago, when he collided with Waugh while fielding against Sri Lanka in the first test in Kandy.

Waugh broke his nose and Gillespie broke his right shin bone and damaged his wrist, sidelining him from the Australian test team for more than a year.

The two were pictured in their hospital beds shortly after the freak accident, Waugh with a bandaged face and Gillespie -- typically -- in the background, slightly out of focus.

Mail Cricket Editor