Too much one-day cricket is pulling down Adam Gilchrist © Getty Images Enlarge

Adam Gilchrist cannot wait for the Ashes to start. "I would have been pretty keen to get into first-class cricket now," he said, just as the NatWest Series ended, and a day before the NatWest Challenge one-dayers against England get underway. "With all due respect to the schedules and commitments every country has to the ICC's five-year program, there's been a lot of one-day cricket already," Gilchrist is quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

"With the heightened awareness and eagerness everyone has for the Ashes, it would have been ripe for the picking to start on first-class cricket now," said Gilchrist. "Everyone now is so keen for the Ashes - players and spectators. "The excitement level and anticipation for this series is just reaching an all-time high and that's been increased again as a result of that (NatWest Series final) tie."

However, Gilchrist realised the need to play one-day internationals. "We play a lot of one-day cricket in Australia and that brings in a lot of revenue and we're reliant on that," he said. "So I can understand England wanting to cash in on the world champs being here. We'll just have to make sure we get up for these games and get into the stuff that everyone's waiting for."

Gilchrist guarded against reading too much into the result of the NatWest Challenge - whichever way it went. The final outcome of this series might not mean that one team is dominant or superior over the other," Gilchrist said. "It might have just been that you happened to get your interpretation of the tactics or rule changes more right than the other, and we'll all be learning.

"When you think about what we're doing, we're totally changing the rules of cricket by bringing a 12th player into the game," said Gilchrist, stressing that the innovations could make a significant difference. "There's some pretty significant rule changes, and it could just be luck of the draw how you come out of it at the other end."