Gilchrist leaves lasting legacy

Adam Gilchrist now holds the record for most dismissals by an Australia keeper © Getty Images

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Almost from the moment Adam Gilchrist was elevated to the Australia team, he revolutionised the game of cricket and will retire as arguably the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman the game has known.

Brought into the one-day team late in 1996 as a batsman known for his brutal hitting, Gilchrist made an immediate impact on the international arena and it was not long before his predecessor, Ian Healy, was left to concentrate on his Test career.

By mid-1999 Gilchrist had become a key member of the one-day side and as an opening batsman alongside Mark Waugh helped Australia recover from a slow start to claim their first World Cup since 1987.

It was only months after that triumph that Healy was pushed into retirement by the selectors, with Gilchrist's promotion to the Test team heralding a new era in the longer game for wicketkeepers.

There was no sentiment shown by the selectors to Healy, who had wanted one more Test in front of his home crowd at the Gabba to bring up 100, but Gilchrist quickly justified the faith shown in him.

It was not long before the former New South Welshman, who had to move to Western Australia to enjoy a regular game at first-class level because he could not usurp Blues incumbent Phil Emery, was in the runs at Test level too.

After scoring 81 in his first Test innings against Pakistan in November 1999, he followed up with an amazing maiden century in Hobart in the same series, scoring an unbeaten 149 as he and Justin Langer helped Australia recover from 126 for five chasing 369 with a match-winning 238-run partnership.

Gilchrist made scoring runs a necessity for the modern wicketkeeper © Getty Images

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The next time Gilchrist scored a Test ton it was no less important, he and Matthew Hayden guiding Australia from a precarious 99 for five to a convincing 10-wicket win over India in Mumbai thanks largely to their 197-run stand.

He introduced himself to England in the Test arena with a magnificent 152, and there were many more impressive knocks on his way to 17 Test centuries, perhaps none more so than his then world record 213-ball unbeaten 204 against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2002.

His deeds in the one-day game were no less impressive. He scored 15 centuries, with his best innings arguably his 172 from 126 deliveries against Sri Lanka in Hobart in 2003 and a 104-ball 149 in last year's World Cup final against the same opponent.

But it was not just Gilchrist's achievements as a batsman that made him stand out, with his work behind the stumps when standing up to star spinner Shane Warne bearing favourable comparison with Healy.

Even though they often failed to see eye to eye away from the field, Gilchrist and Warne enjoyed a brilliant union on it.

But having been a key member of the team in both forms of the game for nearly a decade, Gilchrist's form with the bat in the Test arena has been on the wane for a couple of years, and his glovework in more recent times has also slipped.

Several catches have gone down throughout the series against India, often at crucial times, and with speculation about his future mounting in recent weeks, Gilchrist has suddenly pulled the pin.

What makes it surprising is that only days ago, in the lead-up to the fourth Test, Gilchrist indicated his desire to continue on into next summer, but his missed chances in Adelaide and further calls for him to go must have weighed heavily on his mind.

Gilchrist will depart having kept Australia at the top of the world rankings in both Test and one-day cricket, and with the proud knowledge that the game is richer for his having played it.