Wisden overview
Adam Gilchrist is a three-in-one cricketer who has added a dynamic new dimension to an already powerful Australian team. He is a dauntless left-hand bat who cuts and pulls what would be good-length balls to others, who scores matchwinning Test centuries from No. 7, who regularly gets Australia off to a flyer in one-day cricket, and briefly held the record for Australia's highest one-day score. In South Africa in February 2002 he smashed what was then the fastest-known Test double-century in terms of balls bowled. He is an acrobatic wicketkeeper, if not yet with Ian Healy's standing-up sophistication, who by force of performance and personality won over doubtful fans after replacing two much-loved incumbents - Tim Zoehrer for Western Australia and Healy for Australia. He is a natural leader who within 12 months of his Test debut was filling in as captain. He is genial, sharp and modern, carrying around a laptop to write his own newspaper columns. It was no coincidence that Australia won all of Gilchrist's first 15 Tests, and both the World Cups in which he's played. Greg Baum

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