When Gilly went to water

Moments before heading out for his final session of Test cricket, Adam Gilchrist admitted he bawled his eyes out, caught up with emotion after addressing his team-mates. Alex Brown has more in the Age.

The tears began to well during the tea break, with Gilchrist preparing for the final session of a decorated 96-Test career. Eager to address his Australian team-mates for one, final oration, the vice-captain arose moments before play was set to resume.

While the tears flowed, Adam's brother, Glenn, was unaware of the events at the Adelaide Oval. Camping in Queensland, he was unreachable on his mobile phone and was finally informed when he walked into a shop to buy milk. Read more in the Courier Mail.

He was uncharacteristically flat. He obviously had something on his mind. I wish the bugger would have told me! I flew home and went four-wheel driving all weekend.

Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist might not have been best mates but in the Courier-Mail Warne reflects on what he liked about Gilchrist. Some of it is arguably faint praise: "Gilly is one of those solid citizens and a very good family man who rarely did anything wrong". Warne even manages to bring John Buchanan into the mix.

We had a mutual respect for each other and our positions in the team. He is a guy who was everyone's friend and Gilly will be missed around the dressing rooms a lot for his input and his commonsense. And when John Buchanan was in charge, let me tell you, we needed as much commonsense around as we could because I believe the coach had none. Speaking of the ex-coach, he should thank Gilly and the captain Ricky Ponting for an extension of his contract at the time because they were the only two people who wanted him to stay. Everyone else who was asked said "let him go, he has had his time". Gilly supported the coach. I say good on him for standing up for what he believed to be the best thing for the team.

Mike Coward writes in the Australian that for the first time in many years an element of self-doubt is detectable within the Australia team.

The Australians will be disconcerted by this unconvincing conclusion to the Test match season. They've lost confidence and rhythm since the first two wins of the summer against badly chosen Sri Lankan teams last November and after taking an unassailable lead against India. Certainly this is the case in the field where so many catches have been missed. This fact alone suggests a changed mindset. While it has been another successful season, there is no doubt the winds of change are gaining in velocity. To maintain heady standards with a restructured team is the task before Ponting.

With Australia's retirement list upto five, Nick Bryant looks at the possible replacements. Read more in BBC Sport