Twenty20 cricket yet to convince Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist, Australia's stand-in captain, admitted that Twenty20 was not a game he had taken to whole-heartedly following the defeat to Pakistan
Edward Craig
18-Sep-2007
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Adam Gilchrist, Australia's stand-in captain, admitted that Twenty20 was
not a game he had taken to whole-heartedly following the defeat to
Pakistan. When asked what he thought of the format, he was faint with his
praise: "Er, yeh, yeh. It's um... well. The more I play it, I am starting
to, not so much like it as a player, but love watching it."
Before the tournament started, Gilchrist had said that it was good to play
some international cricket that was not so serious. When Australia lost to
Zimbabwe, Ricky Ponting demanded respect and the Australian machine had
looked as well oiled as ever - until facing Pakistan.
"I am being more and more sold on why the public is so taken by this
format. One over can really change a game, and in a tight game it is
crucial. I am still not totally convinced that over the short term, the
skills get to come through as much as they do in the longer formats, so
that is evening the games up which is a great spectacle, but we'll see
over time. We're all still learning with it."
He admits that Australia's preparation, at least, was not as serious as it
might have been: "[That we haven't hit the stumps when fielding] probably
shows we have not put in the time. We could have cut our break short by a
month and come here peaking, but to be honest, at the time when we made
those decisions we didn't see it as a priority leading into a big run of
cricket.
"We are taking it seriously. I am not sure what the perception is but we
are. Now that we are here, we definitely want to win, and we are doing
everything we can. We are not shirking this as something we are not caring
about."
Edward Craig is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer