Gilchrist was renowned for walking when he considered himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire.[10][11] He made his first-class debut in 1992, his first One-Day International appearance in 1996 in India and his Test debut in 1999.[2] During his career, he played for Australia in 96 Test matches and over 270 One-day internationals. He was Australia's regular vice-captain in both forms of the game, captaining the team when regular captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting were unavailable. He retired from international cricket in March 2008, though he continued to play domestic tournaments until 2013.
Adam Gilchrist was born in 1971 at Bellingen Hospital, in Bellingen, New South Wales, the youngest of four children. He and his family lived in Dorrigo, Junee and then Deniliquin where, playing for his school, Deniliquin South Public School, he won the Brian Taber Shield (named after New South Wales cricketer Brian Taber). When Adam was 13, his parents, Stan and June, moved the family to Lismore where he captained the Kadina High School cricket team.[12]
Gilchrist played a total of six seasons in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the major Twenty20 franchise league in India, three for Deccan Chargers and three for Kings XI Punjab. He was signed by Deccan for the 2008 season, the inaugural season of the competition, having been purchased for US$700,000 in the player auction a few months after his retirement from international cricket.[39][40]
Before the fourth season of the IPL Gilchrist was bought at the 2011 player auction by Kings XI Punjab for US$900,000 and was, again, appointed as captain, taking over from Kumar Sangakkara who had moved to Deccan. In March 2012 he was named player-coach of the side for the following season, replacing his friend and former Australia teammate Michael Bevan, whose contract as head coach was not renewed.[41] After the team failed to make the play-offs, Gilchrist speculated that he may choose to retire from cricket.[42][43]
Following the appointment of Darren Lehmann, who had previously worked with Gilchrist at Deccan, as head coach, Gilchrist chose to play one more IPL season for Kings XI, once again as captain.[44][45] In May 2013, Gilchrist announced his retirement from the IPL.[46] A planned appearance in the first season of the Caribbean Premier League had to be cancelled after an ankle injury[47] and the match proved to be Gilchrist's last in top-class cricket. In that fixture, Gilchrist took the wicket of Harbhajan Singh, from his one and only ball he ever bowled in a T20 match.[48]
Gilchrist signed a short-term contract in November 2009 to play Twenty20 cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club in England during 2010.[51] He was appointed interim captain of the T20 side on 11 June following the sudden resignation of Shaun Udal.[52][53] He played in seven matches for the side during the 2010 Twenty20 Cup, scoring 212 runs at an average of 30.28,[49][54] including a century made against Kent at Canterbury,[55] as well as captaining the county against the touring Australians in a one-day match ahead of their ODI series against England.[56] The season was Gilchrist's only one spent playing county cricket.
Gilchrist successfully kept wicket for fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee for most of his international career. His partnerships with McGrath and Lee are second and fourth respectively in both test and ODI history for the number of wickets taken.[185][186] With Alec Stewart and Mark Boucher, he shares the record for most catches (6) by a wicketkeeper in a ODI match, having achieved this feat five times.[187] In 2007 he took six dismissals and scored a half century in the same ODI for the second time; he remains the only player to do so even once.[188] At Old Trafford in August 2005, he passed Alec Stewart's world record of 4,540 runs as a Test wicketkeeper,[189] and at his retirement in 2008, he was the most successful ODI wicket-keeper with 472 dismissals (417 catches and 55 stumpings), more than 80 dismissals ahead of his closest rival, Mark Boucher.[190] This record was surpassed seven years later by Kumar Sangakkara.
There was a backlash in India, which forced Gilchrist to clarify his position. Gilchrist later insisted that he did not accuse Tendulkar of lying in his testimony. He also denied calling the Indian a "bad sport" in regards to the handshake issue.[225][228] Tendulkar responded by saying that "those remarks came from someone who doesn't know me enough. I think he made loose statements...I reminded him that I was the first person to shake hands after the Sydney defeat."[229] The autobiography also blamed the ICC for allowing Sri Lankan cricketer Muralitharan to bowl; Gilchrist believes that ICC changed the throwing law to legitimise a bowling action that he regards as illegitimate. The law change was described as "a load of horse crap. That's rubbish."[230][231] Gilchrist claimed that Muralitharan threw the ball and alleged that the ICC protected him because Sri Lankan cricket authorities portrayed any criticism of the bowler's legitimacy as racism and a witch-hunt conducted by whites.[231][232] In response to these comments, former Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu said that by questioning the credentials of players like Muralitharan and Tendulkar, Gilchrist had done no good to his own reputation.[233]
Outside cricket, Gilchrist is an ambassador for the charity World Vision in India, a country in which he is popular due to his cricketing achievements,[234] and sponsors a boy whose father has died.[235] He was approached in early 2005 by the US baseball franchise, the Boston Red Sox, with a view to him playing for them when his cricket career ended.[236] However, he was selected for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and announced his retirement from Test and One-Day cricket in early 2008.[237]
In March 2008, Gilchrist joined the Nine Network.[238] Gilchrist has appeared as one of a panel of revolving co-hosts for the revived Wide World of Sports Weekend Edition. He made his debut on the program in March 2008,[238] and commentates on Fox Sport's cricket coverage during the Australian summer.[238] In 2013 Gilchrist joined Ricky Ponting and various other names in cricket to commentate for Channel Ten in the third series of the Big Bash League.[239]
Never highly popular among his peers, journalist Ian Wooldridge commented of him that "Boycott, in short, walks alone",[9] while cricket writer John Arlott wrote that Boycott had a "lonely" career.[10] Others have said that the extent of his introverted nature has been exaggerated, and that while he was obsessed with his own success he was not by nature a selfish player.[11] After 108 Test match appearances for England, Boycott's international career ended in 1982 when he was the leading Test run scorer with over 8,000 Test match runs,[12] earning him an OBE for services to cricket.[4][13] When dropped from the Yorkshire team in 1986 he was the leading run scorer in first-class cricket. In 1965, while still a young player, he had been named as one of five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and he was inducted into the International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame in 2009.[14]
He attended Fitzwilliam Primary School,[17] at which he won a Len Hutton batting award for scoring 45 runs and capturing six wickets for 10 runs in a school match.[15] At age 10, he joined Ackworth Cricket Club, demonstrating "outstanding ability".[8] At the age of 11, he failed the examinations that would have taken him to grammar school, so instead went to the local Kinsley Secondary Modern School.[18] A year later, however, he passed his late-entry exams, and transferred to Hemsworth Grammar School. His cricket prowess was such that he captained the school's cricket First XI at the age of 15. During winters he attended an indoor cricket school, where he was coached by former county professional Johnny Lawrence.[15]
Boycott told the BBC in 1965 that he chose to leave school at 17 because he no longer wished to be a financial strain on his parents, and because he wanted to pursue his cricketing career.[24] He worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance in Barnsley from 1958 to 1963, at the same time playing for a number of cricket clubs. Boycott captained the South Elmsall district team and achieved a batting average of 70.[25] He also played for the Yorkshire Federation's Under-18 team and for Barnsley, where he was noticed by Clifford Hesketh, a member of Yorkshire's County Cricket team committee.[25][26]
Boycott began playing for his home county in 1962 after topping the averages for Leeds, Yorkshire Colts and Yorkshire Second XI.[8][27] In 414 matches for Yorkshire he scored 32,570 runs at an average of 57.85, with a highest score of 260 not out against Essex, and 103 centuries in all. He scored another 8,699 runs in List A cricket, averaging 40.08. Boycott twice averaged over 100 in an English first-class season: 100.12 in 1971, and 102.53 in 1979. He is one of only two players to have achieved this twice,[28] Mark Ramprakash was the other. Boycott was appointed captain of Yorkshire in 1971, but was sacked in 1978 after failing to win a trophy while in charge.[29] He was then dismissed as a player, but reinstated after a members' revolt. During his career Boycott frequently clashed with other strong personalities at the club, including Fred Trueman, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, but remained popular with the Yorkshire crowds.[5]
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