The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Gilchrist and Jones bowl them over

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Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Gilchrist and Jones bowl them over

By Our Staff Reporter

Australian skipper Adam Gilchrist engages the audience at a talk show in Chennai on Friday as moderator Dean Jones looks on. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, OCT. 15. How did Adam Gilchrist come to don the wicket-keeping gloves for the Australian cricket team?

Well, the story goes like this: what he wanted to be was the world's fastest bowler. Till he went shopping with his family and saw a pair of green and white wicketkeeping gloves in a store and fell in love with them. A few weeks later, Santa Claus left them for him under the Christmas tree. The rest is history.

Adam Gilchrist threw open the pages of his life to a niche audience at 59 Minutes, a talk show organised by ABN-AMRO Bank here this evening. With little stories involving his family and his teammates, Gilchrist soon had everybody riveted. Dean Jones, former Aussie batsman and moderator for the show, with his witty references and comical one-liners, made it even better.

Mentors are essential for all sportspersons to break into the competitive arena. And his first mentor was his father, "a minimum cricketer and a leg-spinner" himself. They still speak and exchange e-mails on cricket. His mother too chipped in. AT the 1999 World Cup in England, his form hit the rock bottom, he recalled. "After my second duck in the tournament, my mom called me and just asked me to play straight."

At 18, when he joined the Australian Cricket Academy, Rodney Marsh, one of Gilchrist's idols, took over as the chief coach.

With success, one can go ahead of oneself, he said, topping it off with the words: "It is nice to have your own people around you, be they your family or mentor. They make you believe in yourself."

The key ingredient to winning, he says, is strong leadership. Giving the example of the Australian team, he said what made the difference was the way Steve Waugh first, and then Ricky Ponting, handled the team under the guidance of coach John Buchanan. But the one thing that binds the team together is honesty and getting to know each other well. A few stories involving Shane Warne and some of his pranks played on the teammates had the audience in splits.

When it was time for the audience to get into the action, they were more than game. "You walk so fast when you come onto the field. What do you eat?"

"A balanced diet and plenty of carbohydrates for energy. And perhaps one beer per day."

"What was in your mind when you walked out to bat?"

"Not to get out," prompted Dean Jones. "Obviously, and not to take any risks. With the crowd, the noise and the Indians on a roll, it could be most intimidating to bat in such a place."

The concept of playing cricket for money was "funny" and has still not sunk in. He said he still did not think of this as a job and played cricket simply for the love of it. A cricketer's life, however, is limited and he will have to be careful with his money and how he invests it. A bit of monetary security, in fact, would go a long way in producing better results for a team.

If it was not Australia, Gilly would have loved playing for India for the pride and the passion the game commands here, and West Indies for the lovely beaches.

At the end, the duo obliged autograph hunters and posed for photo sessions.

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