Sport

six appeal!

November 21 - 27, 2007

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I just hit the ball," was how Adam Gilchrist once phrased his batting philosophy. And the Australian has stuck to his word since then much to the chagrin of bowlers all over the world.

The latest ball he hit disappeared from the Bellerive Oval skyline in Hobart on Friday. It was a world record 100th six in Tests, and deservingly came from the most feared bat in world cricket today.

That ball, destined to become a prized piece of cricket memorabilia, is yet to be found.

Watching a batsman hit a six is one of the most alluring sights of cricket. It can be an elaborately planned stroke, a mere reflex action, or even a fluke shot over the third man. But for the watching public it is an ultimate adrenalin rush.

The feeling is heightened when a clean hitter like Gilchrist is on song. Tall and statuesque, Gilchrist can effortlessly turn hitting a six into an art form.

Be it a savage pull over midwicket, a sweetly timed shot over long off, a stunning cut over point or a down-the-pitch and over the sight screen blinder - it all carries poise, punch and precision.

Gilchrist himself described it so succinctly after hitting his 100th six on Saturday. "There's a split second, a nano-second, just a moment in time when you're the only person in the whole world who knows you've hit it right in the middle," he said.

"A second later everyone else knows, but that's just the best feeling as a batsman because you've probably taken a bit of a risk."

Even the 'high priest' of cricket-writing, Neville Cardus, would have nodded his head in approval.

Gilchrist's success story is an amazing one. To begin with, he was most-hated when he started off, threatening to upstage the then Aussie hero Ian Healy who was denied a home farewell at the Gabba in Brisbane in 1999.

In those days the Australians were formulating plans to have separate teams for Tests and one-dayers.

Healy was already in the twilight of his career, and Gilchrist on the threshold of beginning a brilliant one.

But the cold reception from Healy's home fans at Gabba did not deter a young Gilchrist as he went on to take five catches, stumped Azhar Mahmood off Shane Warne, and scored a fluent 81 in his debut Test which Australia won comfortably.

Since then Gilchrist has come a long way and carved an illustrious career for himself. Today he is being talked about as one of the greatest batsmen to have played both Tests and one-dayers, the most prolific wicket-keeper in the history of the game, and definitely one of the best crowd pullers. And, an all-time great too.

His record speaks for itself: he has a Test and one-day average of 48.66 and 35.97 respectively, a strike rate of 82 and 96 with 17 and 15 centuries respectively.

Add to this the world record of 350 dismissals and 37 stumpings in Tests and 400 and 53 in one-dayers. He also has the second fastest Test hundred (57 balls, 12x4, 4x6) to his credit and is part of three World Cup winning teams.

At 36, he is still in peak form physically and mentally as he showed so brilliantly in the final of the World Cup earlier this year - scoring one of the most destructive centuries ever seen (149, 104 balls, 13x4, 8x6).

One of most interesting stories about Gilchrist is that he was approached in early 2005 by the Boston Red Sox to play baseball for them in the US league.

By then his big hitting had made inter-continental headlines.

Thankfully, Gilchrist preferred to stick to cricket. Perhaps if he had not, maybe he would have celebrated a homer record instead of a sixer milestone.

Finally, can you guess how many sixes the greatest batsman - Sir Don - hit.

Well, just six!

SIXES RECORD

Player Matches Innings Sixes Sixes per

innings

Adam Gilchrist 92 130 100 0.77

Brian Lara 131 232 88 0.38

Chris Cairns 62 104 87 0.84

Viv Richards 121 182 84 0.46

Matthew Hayden 91 182 79 0.43

Andrew Flintoff 67 110 77 0.70

GILCHRIST'S BREAK-UP OF SIXES