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Record beckons Gilchrist

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: AFP

Gilchrist.

Perth: Adam Gilchrist has been described in some sections as the conscience of the Australian cricket team.

Two days before the third Test against India, the vice-captain spoke to the press about dealing with last week’s troubles, keeping wicket at Perth, and breaking Rahul Dravid’s record for the most number of consecutive Test appearances.

(Excerpts):

On the fallout from Sydney: It’s a bit frustrating and disappointing to see how little has been written but the quality of cricket that was on offer in the Test match. It was an amazing Test match. Any Test that goes to the last session to the last hour and then to the last over is quite a Test. That’s been a bit frustrating but we are not dwelling on it too much.

On Kumble saying “just one side played in the right spirit”: Anil is a fine man, he obviously looks like a fine leader of that team. He’s a great competitor, a guy I’ve admired, a guy the team has admired, I rang him up when he got his 500th Test wicket, I don’t know who it was against but I tracked down his number and wished him because that’s how highly we rate and regard him. He’s entitled to his opinion. I’m not going to tell him what he can or cannot say, he’s a more experienced Test cricketer than me.

On the team meeting at Perth: It’s a continuation of the discussions we’ve been having this year. It’s just about a whole host of things about the team, the direction of the team, very minimal about on-field stuff. It was more about our unit and what is the team and our team environment.

On addressing the side’s behaviour at Sydney: Obviously it was discussed at Sunday’s and Monday’s meetings but not at any great length. Everyone had the opportunity if he had something to offload or talk about but no-one really did. Ricky (Ponting) came in and as usual showed great leadership, spoke about his week and putting that behind and moving on now. It was put to bed very quickly. I can’t speak on behalf of the Indians but from our side, we want to keep playing the way we have in what we think is the right manner for a long, long while.

On breaking Dravid’s record: It (will be) nice to have played 94 straight Tests. Justin Langer always said the greatest characteristic of a true champion is longevity — because they’ve been there long enough to show their skills in a variety of conditions, it’s a nice little something to reflect on.

On keeping at the WACA: I hope I glove them better than I did at Sydney. It’s the best ground to keep on, standing back to the quicks. It’s always been great fun and a great joy to keep to some of the quicks we’ve had and don’t think it will change if we play 3-4 this time. It’s really exciting, you’ve got time, distance. Everyone loves to see the ball flying through and the players are just the same. Everyone that is barring probably the bloke trying to deal with it.

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