Retiring Australian cricketing great Adam Gilchrist showed today he had plenty of fire left in his belly as he fired a shot at the media for criticising the team’s catching.
Doubts have been raised by commentators over the performances of the Australian one-day side in the field, after two slips catches were spilled in one over in Brisbane in Tuesday’s washed-out match against India.
And vice-captain Gilchrist, despite being in his farewell series, is characteristically fighting to the end to defend his world champion team against what he considers unfair criticism.
It’s a sure sign Gilchrist is still putting all his focus into the current tri-series and successfully setting aside the hot topics of his impending Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 debut and a possible new mentoring role with Cricket Australia (CA).
“Look as long as cricket is played, there is going to be dropped catches,” Gilchrist said today.
“Sometimes they come in little patches … other times you go through many, many games without dropping one and no one writes a story about how great the catching has been.
“It’s expected and when you don’t catch them it’s glaringly obvious, particularly if you set the standards we set,” added wicketkeeper Gilchrist, the world-record holder in Tests and one-dayers for most dismissals.
“All we can continue to do is to keep working hard at training and trying to make sure we are as sharp as possible come game day.”
Maintaining that sharpness is a constant challenge for the 36-year-old Gilchrist with other possible projects for later this year swirling around in his head.
The three-time World Cup winner has been one of the Australian team’s most valuable assets throughout his playing career and CA are keen to make use of his mentoring talents.
“I’ve had a good chat with (CA chief executive) James Sutherland since my announcement,” Gilchrist said.
“Even prior to the rest of the world knowing (about my retirement), I had a good chat to him about it.
“It’s something to look at when the dust settles and that’s not anything I need or anyone else needs to be focusing on at the moment.”
Gilchrist also tried to steer clear of the controversy over his IPL involvement, with national boards including CA trying to enforce a two-year moratorium on retiring players joining the Indian competition.
“We’re just trying to get a gauge on what the restrictions are and as far as I know at the moment, Cricket Australia haven’t given any indication that they wouldn’t want me to be a part of that,” Gilchrist said today.
“But I am not a hundred per cent sure so we are just trying to confirm all that. It is moving quickly and we are trying to get a gauge on where it’s at and then we’ll know more hopefully in the next few days.
“I’ve still got this cricket to get through.
“Like other opportunities after I finish playing, I’ll just address that once I finish playing.
“That’s just part of the management process, just trying to keep that all in check and focus on these games …”
After his match-winning 149 to guide Australia to victory over Sri Lanka in last year’s World Cup final in the West Indies, Gilchrist admitted today he would like to sign off his career with Australia by launching one more big-hitting exhibition.
“I’d love to produce a big score for the fans, for the team more importantly,” he said.
“It has been a wonderful, overwhelming reception everywhere I have gone since announcing my retirement.”
Australia host Sri Lanka in Sydney on Friday.
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