The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A timely break

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

A timely break

I'm sure all parents know just how hard it is to say goodbye to their children for any length of time, whether it be for five days or five minutes, but having to leave my baby daughter when she was just a week old to set off on a cricket tour was one of the hardest moments I have had to face throughout my career.

As many people know, I remained in Perth while the Australian team was in Holland during August to be with my wife Mel for Annie's arrival, but no sooner had we welcomed this beautiful little girl into our lives, than I was boarding a plane en route to England for the ICC Champions Trophy and the tour of India that followed.

Today, after six weeks apart, I have a few precious days with Mel, Annie and our two-and-a-half-year-old son Harry in Singapore, as our side enjoys a few days away from the all-consuming Indian tour. I'm sure Annie will wonder just who on earth is this stranger with the big ears.

Breathing space

Coach John Buchanan and our support staff have ordered this short break ahead of the Nagpur Test just to give us some time away from the game, leaving us players to our own devices. It gives the guys some breathing space, particularly when we have been living in each other's pockets for so long. I have elected to meet the family in Singapore, while others will remain in Mumbai or travel to the coastal state of Goa for some relaxation.

In preparing for this series, we learnt many things out from our loss here in 2001, one of which was the physical and mental fatigue that set in after back-to-back Tests. We are determined not to let this occur again and as such this break is timely.

Once we revert to cricket mode, there will be several things we can glean from our frustrating draw in Chennai, a match that both sides probably felt they could win heading into the final day.

We know that we have to look at the reasons why we collapsed so dramatically in the first innings and perhaps why we didn't grab our chances on the field. But on a positive note, we can take heart from the fact that we never gave up, and managed to claw our way back into the game despite India's ascendancy early in the match.

Credit to bowlers

Much of the credit can go to our bowlers who, in trying conditions, managed to restrict India to a total that wasn't out of our reach, and to the great batting partnership between Damien Martyn and Jason Gillespie, who put us in a position to snatch the game from under India's nose.

We are now treating this tour as if it is a three-match series. That's the way it was in 2001, and at that stage we were in a similar position. As such, there's no way that we are getting ahead of ourselves and thinking that we have the series in our grasp.

There's a lot of cricket still to be played, but you can rest assured that following this short break, our squad is determined to continue our winning ways.

www.adamgilchrist.com/

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