Gilly to go

Adam Gilchrist is about to hang up his gloves. Apparently, dropping VVS Laxman in the Perth Test prompted the decision.

Indeed, he has not been the same intimidating presence either in front or behind the stumps. But still cricket has not seen his kind before.

He has nipped many a bowling career in the bud. His batting in one dayers has been a trauma for pacers and spinners alike. Ricky Ponting, coming at number three, could not stop grinning as he often faced bowlers who had been already beaten to pulp by the swashbuckler southpaw.

And with Gilly behind the stumps – and I’m talking about his salad days – McGraths, Warnes, Gillespies and Lees looked even more formidable. Despite not being in the best of terms with the leggie, Gilly has often been Warne’s partner-in-crime. More batsman have taken the caught-Gilchrist-bowled-Warne way than other available roads to peril.

And not to forget that in the bunch that has been schooled to stand ground and make life difficult for the umpires, Gilly has been a welcome exception, a walker.

Gilly already boasts of more dismissals and tons than any glovesman in the history of the game and Australia might struggle to remain the same force once he departs.