During his time with Kings XI Punjab, a then-39-year-old Gilchrist told Benj Moorehead his cricketing firsts for The Cricketer
After a long and successful career in international and domestic cricket, Adam Gilchrist retired from all other forms of the game in 2008 to become an IPL specialist with the Deccan Charges.
Three years on and during his time with Kings XI Punjab, a 39-year-old Gilchrist told Benj Moorehead his cricketing firsts for the magazine.
What was your first... memory of cricket?
Going to watch my dad play on a Saturday afternoon when I was about four or five. I remember sifting through the cricket bag, trying to work out what you do with a box. I didn’t know where that went. And the smells - the oil in the bats, the leather. I was definitely infected by it then.
Bat?
Slazenger Runmaker, a hand-me-down from my brothers. My first new bat that I was given was a Gray-Nicolls record.
Six?
I know exactly where that was - in Wollongong, south of Sydney for a junior rep team. Just a slog to cow corner - where most of them go. It was the day I got my first hundred.
Adam Gilchrist in action for Australia
Embarrassment?
Suffering a little bit of gastro (gastroenteritis) when I was 15 in an under-18s team. I was a little bit sick in the tummy. Unfortunately it didn’t match up well with the whites that I was wearing. I don’t think I need to describe too much more about what happened.
Time told off by a coach?
My dad for hitting a ball through a window in the backyard. He was a good coach.
Time barracked?
It happened quite often. I remember the one at the WACA. I’d done an advertising campaign with Dennis Lillee where the key word was ‘magnificent.’ If you drank this drink everything would become magnificent. There was a big banner in the crowd which said: “What a magnificent set of ears, Adam.” They are a bit on the large side.
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Piece of advice?
Right at the start of my career Tom Moody telling me to be wary of the rusty gate coming back to smack you in the face. It was about not getting too carried away when you’re doing well but also not getting too low when you are down and out.
Time hurt by the ball?
I broke my nose the first time I kept wicket when I was about nine. I was filling in for my brother’s team. It was a return coming in from the outfield. The ball came in and hit the edge of the cement pitch. Someone told me the same thing happened to Rod Marsh when he first kept. So I thought that was destiny. When I met Rod Marsh I asked him and he said, “No, it never happened.”