Akram backs Gillespie for Ashes

Wasim Akram believes that Jason Gillespie's dramatic return to Test cricket in Bangladesh should guarantee him an Ashes berth. Akram, who along with Gillespie and Ian Botham are the only cricketers to score double hundreds and take 250 Test wickets, said that the South Australian bowler is "definitely back".

"He is a fighter, as a batsman and a bowler. He had a lean patch," Akram told The Daily Telegraph."He knew he had a lean patch, and he went back to state cricket. He did well and now he's back."

Akram, a former Pakistan captain, also said Gillespie's 71-Test experience should see him in the side ahead of Stuart Clark, who reaped 20 wickets in his first three Tests in South Africa. "I have seen Stuart Clark as well and he is a good bowler, but Dizzy [Gillespie] is consistently good and experienced, and he is only young as well," he said. "He is only 31, so he has got plenty of cricket left. I think Australia should stick with him because this guy has the guts to play against any team in the world."

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Bob Simpson, the former Australian Test captain and coach, said that Gillespie's double hundred at Chittagong should be an inspiration to grade cricketers. "If you look at grade scores you often see that when a side makes 200, six players score in the 20s or 30s," Simpson said. "They've got a start but they didn't go on so obviously they didn't have the concentration or the desire. Gillespie's innings should surely say to those people everything is possible."

Man-of-the-Series in the Tests, Gillespie has not been included for the three one-day internationals against Bangladesh beginning at Chittagong on Sunday.