The Battlers Prince
International Vice-Captain
That's a very well written piece
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The Cricketers That Shaped Me
- Thread starter listento_me
- Start date
listento_me
U19 Captain
Second best? SECOND BEST??!!
Daemon
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listento_me
U19 Captain
oh lawdy lawd!
Burgey
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listento_me
U19 Captain
definitely not lol
listento_me
U19 Captain
Adam Gilchrist
I've had a month of being busy with uni and the draft, also refereeing THE bout of our generation (Root v Kohli) but this is my labour of love. Gillu up first and then rounding off with KP in the next couple days. Enjoy!
I spent a large chunk of my school years and junior cricket years playing as a keeper/batsman. For me personally, I had always wanted to be a fast bowling all-rounder but the bowling always seemed to mess with my batting, which was my strong suit. Then I watched Gilly. Boy did that change my world. Here was a guy who didn’t just chirp behind the wicket and dive around catching the ball but could destroy bowling attacks in a matter of minutes. His finest batting innings just roll off the tongue:
THAT match winning 144 against Sri Lanka.
His maiden ODI century against England in yet another match winning effort.
A destructive double against South Africa in yet another…you guessed it, match winning innings.
In an Australian side that simply bulldozed the opposition, Gilchrist was the primary weapon. A sublime keeper whose skills behind the stumps barely get a mention. The reason? Because you only notice keepers when they are making mistakes. Gilly made very few mistakes behind the stumps…of the skilful variety anyway. But we’ll get onto that in a bit.
With keeping safely tucked away, it’s Gilchrist’s trump card that we all remember. The batting. He could turn it on just about whenever Australia needed it and as both a lower order supremo and an offensive opening choice, Gilchrist was the man. If it was Ponting’s grit I worked on as a batsman, it was intertwined with Gilchrist’s cuts and smashes. When you bat, your job is to score runs. You’re not getting paid by the hour so why waste time? I assume that’s how Gilly felt.
However, as time wore on and I came to learn more about my heroes, I also learned more about his flaws. He at times supported comrade Lehmann, who was found guilty of using racist language during a match against Sri Lanka. The keeper/batsman would go on to describe the incidence as “unfortunate”. Way to downplay vile racist language, although he himself had falsely accuse Pakistani keeper Latif of using racist language against him. These aren’t cricketing flaws but rather serious character flaws. That hurt me and for a time, I didn’t want Gilchrist to be my keeping role model.
Since then, I have come to terms with admiring the cricketer and ignoring the man. That’s all part of growing up, no? Just as Ponting ended his days as an unsavoury, whingeing mess and Akram had issues with match fixing (none proven I believe), Gilchrist, probably the cricketer closest to my own role in a team, also faltered, fell and possibly never rose up again. After all, I found his use of the table tennis ball in the world cup peculiar. If a bowler cannot use outside components to change the condition of ball, should a batsman be allowed to do the same to his equipment?
Gilly got away because of who he was and who he played for but there is something else to that incident. For all his brute strength, he was a thinking cricketer. A genius, in the purest sense of the word. People may talk of Lara as the batting savant or Akram as the bowling professor but of all the cricketers I have ever seen, possibly of all the sports people in my life time, Gilly came closest to being a thinking mastermind. For that, he shaped so many young keepers.
I've had a month of being busy with uni and the draft, also refereeing THE bout of our generation (Root v Kohli) but this is my labour of love. Gillu up first and then rounding off with KP in the next couple days. Enjoy!
Adam Gilchrist – The Cricketers That Shaped Me
I spent a large chunk of my school years and junior cricket years playing as a keeper/batsman. For me personally, I had always wanted to be a fast bowling all-rounder but the bowling always seemed to mess with my batting, which was my strong suit. Then I watched Gilly. Boy did that change my world. Here was a guy who didn’t just chirp behind the wicket and dive around catching the ball but could destroy bowling attacks in a matter of minutes. His finest batting innings just roll off the tongue:
THAT match winning 144 against Sri Lanka.
His maiden ODI century against England in yet another match winning effort.
A destructive double against South Africa in yet another…you guessed it, match winning innings.
In an Australian side that simply bulldozed the opposition, Gilchrist was the primary weapon. A sublime keeper whose skills behind the stumps barely get a mention. The reason? Because you only notice keepers when they are making mistakes. Gilly made very few mistakes behind the stumps…of the skilful variety anyway. But we’ll get onto that in a bit.
With keeping safely tucked away, it’s Gilchrist’s trump card that we all remember. The batting. He could turn it on just about whenever Australia needed it and as both a lower order supremo and an offensive opening choice, Gilchrist was the man. If it was Ponting’s grit I worked on as a batsman, it was intertwined with Gilchrist’s cuts and smashes. When you bat, your job is to score runs. You’re not getting paid by the hour so why waste time? I assume that’s how Gilly felt.
However, as time wore on and I came to learn more about my heroes, I also learned more about his flaws. He at times supported comrade Lehmann, who was found guilty of using racist language during a match against Sri Lanka. The keeper/batsman would go on to describe the incidence as “unfortunate”. Way to downplay vile racist language, although he himself had falsely accuse Pakistani keeper Latif of using racist language against him. These aren’t cricketing flaws but rather serious character flaws. That hurt me and for a time, I didn’t want Gilchrist to be my keeping role model.
Since then, I have come to terms with admiring the cricketer and ignoring the man. That’s all part of growing up, no? Just as Ponting ended his days as an unsavoury, whingeing mess and Akram had issues with match fixing (none proven I believe), Gilchrist, probably the cricketer closest to my own role in a team, also faltered, fell and possibly never rose up again. After all, I found his use of the table tennis ball in the world cup peculiar. If a bowler cannot use outside components to change the condition of ball, should a batsman be allowed to do the same to his equipment?
Gilly got away because of who he was and who he played for but there is something else to that incident. For all his brute strength, he was a thinking cricketer. A genius, in the purest sense of the word. People may talk of Lara as the batting savant or Akram as the bowling professor but of all the cricketers I have ever seen, possibly of all the sports people in my life time, Gilly came closest to being a thinking mastermind. For that, he shaped so many young keepers.
vitalogy83
U19 Debutant
I've enjoyed reading all of these. Well done mate.
Back in the day when the Wisden cricketer magazine had an online blog - they ran a competition to write in about your favourite cricketer - and if you got published you won a year's subscription to the mag.
If anyone is interested, I'll post my winning entry
Will need to dig through my emails to find it because that site does not exist anymore.
Back in the day when the Wisden cricketer magazine had an online blog - they ran a competition to write in about your favourite cricketer - and if you got published you won a year's subscription to the mag.
If anyone is interested, I'll post my winning entry
Will need to dig through my emails to find it because that site does not exist anymore.
vitalogy83
U19 Debutant
Cheers Burgey. As a new member of the forum I'd not seen this before. Excellent work.
Zinzan
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Thought you loved Sachin Burgey
listento_me
U19 Captain
I do like to write.
I've kinda done these ones in a bit of a rush due to time restraints but thanks!
listento_me
U19 Captain
awesome stuff man, post your one tooI've enjoyed reading all of these. Well done mate.
Back in the day when the Wisden cricketer magazine had an online blog - they ran a competition to write in about your favourite cricketer - and if you got published you won a year's subscription to the mag.
If anyone is interested, I'll post my winning entry
Burgey
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I admire him greatly as a batsman. He was virtually text book perfect. If you want to show young cricketers technical proficiency, he's just about a living text book.Thought you loved Sachin Burgey
I thought you never really knew him. He gave very little of himself away at a personal level, and that's his prerogative tbf. To an outsider it was almost like he went about batting and playing in a bubble, impervious to everything around him. It's probably part of what made him so great, and it may well be that people in India saw a lot more of him off field than we ever did here on tours. I would have loved him to have given more away as to what made him tick, but he was a quiet sort of bloke who wasn't up for that, which is fair enough too.
listento_me
U19 Captain
awww you just wanted sachin to take you on a date
Zinzan
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It's interesting, I always got the impression Sachin quietly hated the over the top fan-boy-god status as much as non-Indians around the world did. Not saying he didn't appreciate his cricket fans, just the god-like status to which many held him in.
listento_me
U19 Captain
There was something really interesting a year or so ago regarding Tendulkar. He basically got lost in Cambridge I think it was and started asking for directions. Someone recognised him and it became a bit of a twitter sensation. One of my friends happened to be in the area and although she doesn't follow cricket, she told me he seemed like such an average joe and was a bit bewildered by all the tweets.
So I can fully understand why he'd be bewildered by 1 billion people treating him like a king or something divine.
Na, you could do better than Laxman.