Is spin the way to tame Gilchrist?

By Oliver Brett

MOST SUCCESSFUL BOWLERS AGAINST GILCHRIST Anil Kumble (pictured) - has dimissed him seven times Harbhajan Singh - six Daniel Vettori - five Jacques Kallis - four

Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Daniel Vettori are the best at it.

But Danish Kaneria has done it three times and even New Zealand's Paul Wiseman and West Indian Omari Banks have managed the feat twice.

The task in question: dismissing Adam Gilchrist.

Probably the most destructive batsman in Test match cricket, Gilchrist has well over 4,000 runs at an average comfortably exceeding 50.

But examining the details of his 66 appearances in Tests, one can see spinners have had a fair amount of joy against the free-scoring 33-year-old.

On the 2001 tour of India, Gilchrist fell five times to spinners in five innings, where he followed a century in Mumbai with scores of 0, 0, 1 and 2.

But there then followed a far more fruitful period for Gilchrist against the slow men.

In his next 31 Test appearances, he lost his wicket just eight times to spin bowlers.

In that time, he scored a century at Edgbaston that set up an Ashes series triumph before pulverising South Africa in the 2001-02 winter, both home and away.

He scored more Ashes runs in the 4-1 home triumph in 2002-03 and added centuries against New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

We know he's a nervous starter John Bracewell

But then it all changed again, starting with the Adelaide Test against India in December 2003.

When Gilchrist, on 43, was bowled by Anil Kumble, Australia quickly collapsed to 196 all out in their second innings to lose the match.

The same bowler struck again against Gilchrist in each of the following two Tests for scores of 14 and 4.

In Sri Lanka Muttiah Muralitharan got him three times in as many Tests but Gilchrist responded with a superb 144 in Kandy which transformed a wretched situation into a brilliant victory.

Gilchrist revels in hitting the heights when it really matters

On the 2004 tour of India, every single time Gilchrist was out, a spinner had the wicket.

Then Kaneria dismissed him twice in Australia's recent home series against Pakistan.

And Vettori also has two Gilchrist wickets to his name this season - in Adelaide in December and Christchurch last week.

The LG-sponsored player rankings place him at eighth in the world, but Australians probably regard him as more valuable than that.

Of his 14 often brutal centuries, a large proportion have come at crucial stages in matches - with Gilchrist wresting evenly-poised contests irrevocably the way of Australia.

John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach whose team must find a way through Gilchrist's defences in the second Test in Wellington on Friday, is acutely aware of this fact.

He said: "He's got the ability to turn a game by being so positive and scoring his runs so quickly.

"Where other teams would use up time to get in a strong position he puts the foot down and gets them back in the game."

How will Giles get on against Gilchrist this coming summer?

The Edgbaston innings, mentioned earlier, was the first Ashes Test of 2001.

England were bowled out for 294 on the first day, and Australia stood at 336-5 in reply when Gilchrist came in.

In the final session of the second day, he hit a flagging attack to every corner of Birmingham in a virtuoso innings of 152 of 143 balls.

Shell-shocked, England folded in the second innings to lose by an innings and 118 runs.

Ashley Giles was playing in that Test but injury has since prevented him appearing in all but one of the nine subsequent Ashes Tests.

A much-improved bowler now, will his confrontation with Gilchrist this coming summer prove one of the crucial sub-plots of the 2005 Ashes series?