The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Hectic schedule stumps Adam Gilchrist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 07, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Hectic schedule stumps Adam Gilchrist

— Photo: AP

WHAT’S THE FUTURE? Australia’s Adam Gilchrist feels the hectic schedule could cut his international career short.

Melbourne: The hectic international cricket calendar has left Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist wondering how long he can continue playing at the highest level.

With the Australian team about to embark on its most hectic period of cricket — incorporating 23 Tests, a Champions Trophy and numerous other limited-overs series before the end of 2008 — Gilchrist said he was uncertain whether he would be playing next season. “I’m not sure if I’ll be back here next year, but with the way I feel at the moment the intention is to try and get right through,” he said at a luncheon ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka starting in Brisbane on Thursday.

The Australian vice-captain said he had pondered retirement during last season’s Ashes campaign, then opted to play on after a revitalising World Cup campaign and a refreshing three-month off-season. “I wondered whether last summer might be my last one,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald.

“I just thought I would go along and enjoy it, and then the World Cup came and that was a real shot of adrenaline. We have had two good off-seasons the last two winters, and over the next three or four years cricketers will not see that kind of time off. It was very timely for me,” the left-hander said.

Gilchrist will turn 36 between the Brisbane and Hobart Tests against the Lankans, and provided he maintains his streak of consecutive matches, will equal Rodney Marsh’s mark of 96 Test appearances by the end of this summer.

Along with Hayden and Ponting, Gilchrist forms the veteran core of the Australian Test side this season following the retirements of Warne, McGrath and Langer. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail