Tributes to Gilchrist

As Adam Gilchrist prepares to hang up his gloves, teammates, former coach, peers and even the Australian Prime Minister doffed their hat at the wonderful entertainer.

Here is a collection of who said what:

Peter Roebuck, noted cricket writer and former Somerset captain:

Adam Gilchrist has given more outright joy to followers of the game than any cricketer since Sir Garfield Sobers. He will be missed as a cricketing force, as a contributor and as an entertainer.

Kim Hughes, former Australia captain:

Wicketkeeper-batsmen will always be compared to Gilly and they will never be as good.

Mark Boucher, days after losing his world record to Gilly:

He revolutionised the game in terms of being a wicketkeeper-batsman…He is the guy who set the tone for everyone else in the game, and he has changed it forever.

Rod Marsh, former Aussie stumper:

…whoever replaces him will have enormous shoes to fill.

Sourav Ganguly:

… he must be the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman ever.

Kevin Ruud, Australian Prime Minister:

As his prime minister (I) said, 'Gilly you need to reconsider,' and he told me he wasn't.

Ian Healy, who lost his place in the side to Gilly.

It's very easy to talk about his batting, but it was his glovework right from day one, in his first Test match in Brisbane, that I liked.

John Buchanan, former coach:

Possibly his loss is more than even Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

Jason Gillespie:

He just loved being around the lads in the dressing room, having a laugh.

Anil Kumble:

He changed the way countries would look at wicketkeepers.

Kumar Sangakkara:

He pioneered the wicketkeeper-batsman role.

England ODI captain Paul Collingwood gives voice to what bowlers worldwide felt:

Thank God for that.

Image: AFP

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.