Gilchrist’s bat a wonder of the world
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Getty Images
Adam Gilchrist speaks to the Australian’s Peter Lalor about his “Wonder Bat”, which dressing-room folklore says carries the same powers as one made by Homer Simpson. Since getting it before the 2006-07 Ashes, he has nursed it like “an orphaned marsupial”, but it finally broke in last week’s Twenty20.
It has been glued and pinned and preserved at every turn. If staying up nights with a cold flannel and a bottle of milk would have done the trick, Gilchrist would have been there. The axemen of the team will carry six or eight blades in their kit, but Gilchrist carries just three: the much-loved Wonder Bat, a practice bat and a spare.
Once he was aware just how good this model was, it was immediately excused from training. By the time last year's World Cup came around, it was starting to show some fragility.
Lalor also writes about the change in Nathan Bracken’s prospects since Mitchell Johnson’s arrival while in the Courier-Mail Robert Craddock says Michael Kasprowicz is considering retirement.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo