I started watching cricket in the early 1990s, when the role of a wicketkeeper in a Test team was to be good with the gloves and contribute some useful runs with the bat.
Australia had Ian Healy, who was a brilliant keeper and also was a useful bat down the order, at a time when teams were happy with keepers contributing 20s and 30s, with the occasional 50.
All that changed on November 21, 1999.
Chasing 369 to win against a strong Pakistan at Bellerive Oval, Australia had lost half their side for just over a 100.
Justin Langer was holding up one end and Adam Gilchrist, in only his second Test having replaced Healy, came in to join him in the middle.
The Pakistan bowling attack was a strong one, comprising Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq. Even though Gilchrist had made his ODI debut three years earlier, no one could have predicted what followed over the next 24 hours.
Gilchrist scored a brilliant, unbeaten 149, Australia chased down the total, and the legend was born. For the next nine years, Gilchrist tormented bowling attacks around the world.
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Gilchrist was brilliant behind the stumps too, was excellent keeping wickets to the legendary Shane Warne, and he had an amazing ODI career as an opener.
This success made teams world over realise how important the role of a good wicketkeeper-batsman can be, and in an effort to find their own version ended up compromising the primary skills of many a keeper.
The only other player who did well as a keeper in the ’90s was Andy Flower, but again, he wasn’t as destructive as Gilchrist.
Mark Boucher was brilliant for South Africa and was decent with the bat. Alec Stewart was good for England, as were Adam Parore and Dave Richardson, but none came even close to the impact Gilly had for Australia.
In the 2000s we saw Kumar Sangakkara, AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum and MS Dhoni – all brilliant for their teams – but again, none had the impact of Gilchrist.
Sangakkara and De Villiers found keeping and batting hard to combine, and gave up their gloves to concentrate on batting. Dhoni was a good keeper but was not effective with the bat overseas. McCullum played just 52 Tests as a keeper before becoming a frontline batter for his side.
From the current generation, possibly Quinton de Kock comes close, but he has a long way to go before he can be compared to the Aussie.
Gilchrist not only averaged 47.8 with the bat but also scored those runs at an enormous strike rate of 81.95 – a deadly combination that saw him turn Test matches multiple times during his career.
Adam Gilchrist set a trend that teams the world over are struggling to follow to this date.
DavSA
Guest
Sorry for late response Giri , FAF has just had a child and is being given time out .
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
@DavSA How did Deal Elgar become captaincy candidate? It seems like he will be captaining the team in the absence of Faf, strange, I never thought him as the captain for the SA national side.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Yes it is disappointing that people could not see a lots of great SA cricketers from the 70's and 80's. Greame Pollock and Barry Richards were absolutely brilliant players and the cricketing world did not get to see them enough. Not sure how many batting records would have tumbled if these two had played long enough.
DavSA
Guest
Yes he did Giri . There were plenty of fine players during that era . Not many that I would have called all time great though . Crowe doesn't do that for me . While on the subject of wicket/keeper batsmen 2 very fine players from SA who were sadly at their peak during the isolation era were Ray Jennings ( his son now playing for England) and a fellow called Lee Irvine . Jennings was a decent bat but literally redefined wicketkeeping here in SA He was something of a miracle man with some astonishing behind the stumps feats . Earned him the nickname of JET . Irvine was a very good keeper and a batsman every bit as good as Gilly . But unfortunately we will never know. ... Dennis Lindsay , another superb batsman / keeper did get to play a bit of test cricket and formed part of that astounding team that whitewashed the Aussies 4-0 in 1970. ..Irvine was selected for the subsequent return tour of Australia in what may well have been the greatest test team ever ...of course the tour never took place and 2 generations of wonderful cricketers were lost to the world.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
You are right. Gilly was one of a kind. QDK probably has the skills to come close. We need to watch his progress. NZ also had the legendary Martin Crowe. what your thoughts on him? I felt he underachieved a bit with the amount of talent he had. He ended up in the very good territory.
DavSA
Guest
And apologies to the NZ supporters .. I should have included Hadlee in my list of those cricketers that have impacted most on me.
DavSA
Guest
I have been a cricket fan for many years now Giri and in the last 40 years or so only a real handful of players have made a genuine lasting impact on me. Gilchrist is one of those and imo stands tall in the company of Warnie , Lara , Tendulkar , Botham , Kallis and I was fortunate enough to have seen the great Graeme Pollock in full cry . One never forgets these players . I cannot include the likes of Wasim Akram as I never saw him live on the park . You are also correct in that there were many , many very good Keeper/Batsmen over this period , Boucher was decent , Richardson very solid if unspectacular and of course Alec Steward also comes to mind. But none come close to Gilly . De Kock is the heir apparent and still very young . Hard to believe is is still only 22 years old , injuries notwithstanding his time will come.
Andrew Young
Roar Guru
So so accurate. Not only has this problem affected those at the highest level- it is an attitude that has permeated right the way through the game; right from the local level. Made especially hard when those wearing the gloves are all competing for one spot...
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Sangakkara wasn't a star in the 90's and his batting only reached peak level after he dropped his gloves to concentrate on his batting. He did decent but again hardly created any impact until after the 2000's. SL won the WC in 1996, so I don't think they were a weak team per say. Boucher did not play for a poor team. SA were the second best team after Australian in the 90's. There is an argument that SA might have been even better than the Aussies for a period of time in tests. Mark Boucher did decent for SA and averaged in early 30's but was not someone who could turn games with his bat. Brendon McCullum did not make is test debut till 2004. Gilchrist was a unique case. He was so good that he could walk into lots of X1's as a specialist batsman. He surely was a trendsetter in terms of a very good keeper who doubled up as a All time great batter. I don't think any team had someone like him for a long period of time. Sangakkar and ABD dropped their gloves after 48 and 24 games respectively, so I don't consider them as full time keepers. Sanga played 134 tests and majority as a specialist batsman. ABD has played 106 and majority of them as batter as well. McCullum also only played 52 games as keeper out of his 101 tests. So all the above keepers gave up their gloves to specialist batters for their sides so not a comparison with Gilly who played as a keeper for 96 tests and maintained superior batting average during that time. Only Boucher and Dhoni played all their games as keepers and they were not as effective or in the same class as Gilly was. So yes, teams including Australia are trying to find their own Gilchrist even now. QDK might be the one but again he has a long way to go.
Brian
Guest
Seems a bit overdone. Sangakarra made his debut around the same time as Gilly, played in a much poorer team, performed about as well so how is he not trend setting. McCullum and Boucher are another two who played at the time in poorer teams. Gilly was a great player but I do not understand this revolutionary angle. Everyone wanted a keeper who could bat well as they do now.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Alec Stewart was a brilliant player and I had a section on him in the article which got edited out. He was my favourite English batsmen through the 90's. I am not questioning the ability of any of the other wicket keepers in the 90's or even before that. But the fact remains that only after Gilly's debut and success did other cricketing nations start to invest in Keepers who can score big runs. Alec Stewart did that before Gilly and was a very good opener for England before he moved down the order later in his career but Gilly brought about a change in the thinking of rest of the world which is why I call him the trend setter.
Hewy
Guest
Alec Stewart scored more runs in the decade of the 90's than any other test cricketer.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Barry Richards was a fantastic player and a genius. He along with Graeme Pollock was extremely unlucky to not play more tests. Richards did extremely well at the first class level and it is unfortunate that we could not see more of him. Barry Richards even in the 60's was an extremely aggressive opener and scored runs really quick for the era. SA's isolation robbed the cricketing world of lots of brilliant players, Barry Richards was one of them. God knows what he would have achieved if he had a full career.
peter chrisp
Guest
Giri Gilly a great summary of the legendary Gilchrist. Greenridge & Haynes were amazing players but as you have suggested we are talking about a wicket keeper batsman i am not sure if you will agree although he didn't get much of an opportunity and apparently only 4 tests then played county cricket & the James Packer World Series if my memory serves me well & i think a stint with South Australia your thoughts on Barry Richards
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
Mark Waugh was brilliant and was one of the 4 main opening batsmen in ODI's in the 90's. The other 3 being Sachin, Anwar and Jayasuriya, Sourav was there somewhere too. He was brilliant in the world cups that Australia won as well both in 1996 and 1999.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Mark Waugh was one of the finest ODI batsmen ever, and especially so at opener.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I can see why people would pick Haydos/Gilly, but having watched them growing up, Haynes/Greenidge are the greatest openers I have seen, probably the best ever over all formats, especially Test cricket. But since we are talking ODI's, given who they faced, on the pitches they played on, along with the bats and long boundaries and the rules about where bowlers could bowl(bigger strike zone ) I would back them over anyone else.
Giri Subramanian
Roar Guru
It is hard but it will be between, Gilchrist/Hayden and Greenidge/Haynes. Kalu after initial success fizzled away, so that combination for me is ruled out. Warner/Finch too inconsistent for me. There is another combination you missed out was Sachin/sourav. In terms of sheer impact I would choose Hayden/Gilly. Both were aggressive players. Greenidge/Haynes were class and so were Sachin/Sourav. So really hard to decided but for main tournaments you have to pick a combination featuring Gilly for his brilliant record in knockout games.
AREH
Roar Guru
Got me thinking reading this, if you had to pick an opening combination from either current or past to win you an ODI, who would be your best choice? Gilchrist/Hayden Jayasuriya/Kaluwitharana Warner/Finch Haynes/Greenidge McCullum/Guptil Dhawan/Rohit May have forgotten some?
The Bush
Roar Guru
It's funny how life is cyclical. The tactic now is to again conserve wickets and then explode in the last 20 or so, as opposed to explode, consolidate, explode again from circa 95-2010. Some of it is T20, some of it is the fielding restrictions, some of it just tactics. Of course just starting off solid these days, with big bats and short fields, would seem explosive back in the day.