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Home , 2005 Ashes series, Abdur Razzak (cricketer), Adam Gilchrist, Alok Kapali, Batting (cricket), Bill Lawry

, 1996 to 2006

With homicidal eyes in a snarling face and long dark hair streaming in his wake as he bounded towards the , Jason Gillespie cowered many batsmen before he reached his stride. Yet the heavy-rock exterior bellied a thorough professional, and a modest and decent bloke. Wisden chose Jason Gillespie as Cricketer of the Year 2002, praising “the sharp mind of a fiercely dedicated cricketer” and his “honest approach to the hard work of fast ”. That work was made more arduous by a frustrating, not to say frightening, succession of injuries and an horrendous collision in the field.

Gillespie made his Test debut against West Indies at in November 1996. , , Ian Bishop and Kenny Benjamin shared the pace duties. Although their bowling was hostile, Gillespie quickly came to understand that if he worked hard and played straight, he could survive and might even score a few runs. So, first time out, Jason met all the requirements sought in a . He proved to be a quick learner. In the Sheffield Shield game immediately after his debut Test, Gillespie batted for almost five hours 58 (his maiden first-class fifty) as nightwatchman to save the game for against at . In the subsequent years Jason Gillespie appeared ten times as nightwatchman for Australia, failing only once. His shifts until he was dropped by Australia during the in are shown in the table.

Date Opponents Venue In Out Minutes Score Nov 1998 England Perth 138-3 165-4 86 11 Mar 1999 West Indies 12-2 46-4 64 14 Dec 2000 West Indies Perth 62-2 123-4 112 23 Dec 2000 West Indies 169-3 187-4 41 4 Mar 2004 (SSC) 79-2 80-3 5 1 Oct 2004 Chepauk () 145-4 285-6 242 26 Mar 2005 140-3 201-6 108 12 Mar 2005 New Zealand 215-4 297-6 150 35 Aug 2005 England 136-6 137-8 4 0

Jason Gillespie’s NWM Appearances in Test matches before 2006

“That was probably the most crucial few hours of the series”:

Jason Gillespie, Second Test, Madras (now Chennai), October 2004

In 2004-05 Australia were still seeking their first series win in India since . The previous two tours had both ended in 2-1 victories for India. In contrast to previous generations of cricketers, tour party were familiar with India. had changed the touring policy of the Australian Academy. Instead of always visiting England, he sent teams to places where the senior side had trouble winning. Thus, Adam Gilchrist, the Australian , remembered that all the tourists in 2004-05 were seasoned in Indian conditions. The hosts played the first two Tests without , who was suffering from tennis elbow. The First Test at was won comfortably by Australia. Remembering India had come back from losing the First Test in 2001, promised India could recover.

Hot and humid conditions again welcomed the teams to the Chepauk for the Second Test. The Australians wore ice-jackets to keep body temperatures from soaring; umpires sat down on chairs under a parasol during drinks breaks; and, and were hospitalised because of dehydration. Australia won the , batted and marched to 189 for two. then accounted for the remaining eight - seven from his bowling and one out - as Australia collapsed to 235 all out. took up the cudgels, scoring 155 as India ran up a first lead of 141. Gilchrist thought that was a small victory, as he considering a deficit of 250 was possible when India were 335 for six. In oppressive heat, the Indian bowlers steadily pressed home the advantage, whittling Australia down to 145 for four. Jason Gillespie had been sent in as nightwatchman on the fall of his captain Gilchrist. Jason did his job well, hurrying through to take a off the last ball of the penultimate so he could face the last six balls of the day.

Australia started the fourth day nine runs ahead with only six wickets in hand. in the Independent thought Anil Kumble and colleagues worked hard in terribly debilitating conditions, hardly bowling a bad ball. A full house of noisy spectators was treated to a contest of high skill and determination. was able to play on his back foot because the pitch had lost some of its pace. Thus he avoided the forward lunges that had been his undoing against spin. Gillespie “showed the same accuracy with bat that he does with ball. A metronomic plonking of the front foot far down the pitch was coupled with a bat that stuck to the pad like a sweaty shirt would to skin on a hot, humid October day in Chennai” (Wisden). The Times explained Jason had two strokes: “a tight backward defensive and an even tighter forward defensive. His was not a pretty innings, but its frustration value was immense.”

The pair reached lunch with the score on 230 for four. Martyn was playing patiently and Gillespie, who had scored 16 of the 80 runs added in the morning, persisted, seemingly immoveable. However, immediately after lunch, Jason had two lapses. He gave a sharp catch to silly-point off but was dropped. Then, having added a to his score and seeking more, he presented Harbhajan with a -and- chance that ought to have been held. The mishaps prompted Gillespie to retrench into his hard labour. He and Martyn carried Australia through the afternoon. Approaching tea Martyn reached his . They had been together for four hours, when just before tea Martyn was undone by Harbhajan’s . In the same over, Gillespie fell the same way; Raul Dravid taking a blinder in the slips.

Despite this double loss, Adam Gilchrist was delighted:

“Day four was one of the great days of ...Dizzy had gone in after me as nightwatchman, and he and Marto batted for four hours. It was a slow grind - they only added 139 together - but sitting in the changing room, I didn’t want to budge. The crowd noise was intense, and it was desperate cricket, pure guts ... If they didn’t bat like that, we would very likely have lost the Test and who knows where the series would have headed?”

“ in the match called for incredible mental toughness” because of heavy sweating while wearing pads, helmet and padding in the searing conditions, said Gillespie. “Physically though it wasn’t too bad because I was only blocking the hell out of the Indians, so I got through okay.”

st st Australia 1 Innings 235 and India1 Innings 376

Australia 2nd Innings (overnight 150-4: Martyn 19, Gillespie 0)

JL Langer c Dravid b Kumble 19 ML Hayden c Laxman b Kumble 39 AC Gilchrist b Kumble 49 SM Katich lbw b Khan 9 DR Martyn c Dravid b Harbhajan 104 JN Gillespie c Dravid b Harbhajan 26 MJ Clarke 39 DS Lehmann c Patel b Kumble 31 SK Warne c Laxman b Kumble 0 MS Kasprowicz lbw b Kumble 5 GD McGrath b Harbhajan 2 Extras 46 ----- Total (133.5 overs) 369

FOW: 1-53, 2-76, 3-121, 4-145, 5-284, 6-285, 7-347, 8-347, 9-364

India 2nd Innings 19-0

Michael Clarke and took the score to 347 for six, and Australia looked certain to be batting on the final day. The Indian spinners, in one final effort on a long day in which they had bowled virtually all the 83 overs, spectacularly brought the innings to a close by taking four wickets in twelve overs. Australia were all out for 369. India, chasing 229 to win, smashed 18 off McGrath’s two overs to close on 19 for nought. Overnight the Times considered the game evenly poised. Adam Gilchrist thought India had the edge but believed both sides could be optimistic of victory. His opposite , Sourav Ganguly, agreed: “It was a 50-50 game“. Nightwatchman Gillespie; “was sure we didn’t quite have enough runs to win the match”, although early wickets would put India under immense pressure. Sadly, monsoon rain denied everyone an enthralling day’s play.

Gillespie and Martyn had certainly staved off defeat, so Australia took their lead into the Third Test at . Tendulkar’s return to the side for the match was crowded out of the headlines by a row over pitch preparation. Ganguly asked the groundsman to shave all grass off the . Having looked at the strip, Ganguly sighed: “but I don’t think he has done much. Our strength is our spinners but the pitch is up to him”. Whatever was in the mind of the groundsman, the pitch was prepared to suit fast bowlers. Australia had three of those and India none. Spirit seemed to drain from the hosts, not least as Harbhajan, suffering from gastro-enteritis, could not play. Ganguly withdrew injured on the morning of the match. Australia won easily; McGrath and Gillespie enjoying themselves hugely.

By taking a 2-0 lead with one Test to play, Adam Gilchrist became the first Australian captain to win a series in India for 35 years. Acting-captain Dravid agreed Australia had been the better side, attributing their superiority to their numerous visits since the 1996 World Cup. India won the final Test, another thriller, by bowling out Australia for 93 as they chased 107 to win. Nonetheless, Gilchrist and his team took home the laurels. India have hosted the Australians twice since then, reverting to usual form by beating the tourists in both series two Tests to nil.

After Gillespie’s match-saving innings at Chennai his approach to batting remained austere:

“My plan was to stay there, defend my wicket and be involved in a partnership. If I could push one into a gap in the off-side or work off my pads it would be all well and good. If I’d been in for a while, the odd shot might come out.”

The “odd shot” could be spectacular. Gillespie deposited Pakistan’s young speedster into the stands for six at in December 2004 during his second Test half-century. The innings drew compliments from his captain, , who observed; “as his confidence as a batsmen grows he will get even better.”

“We are in a great position thanks to some excellent batting from , Jason Gillespie, Adam Gilchrist and ”: Ricky Ponting

New Zealand v Australia, Third Test, Auckland, March 2005

Jason’s first Test fifty had come in the home series against New Zealand in November 2004. Australia won both Tests easily. An away series of three Tests was played in March 2005. Australia had dominated their neighbours since spurning the chance to win Peter Taylor’s Test in March 1990. New Zealand won in Auckland in March 1993 to square the series. Since then Australia had not lost in 14 matches, winning nine of them. Nevertheless in the First Test at Christchurch in 2005, New Zealand looked set to scare the bookmakers.

The hosts compiled 433 in their first innings. This was slightly disappointing as New Zealand had been 330 for three, but subsided to Glenn McGrath who fought back to take 6 for 40. Nevertheless, in reply Australia were in some danger of following-on. They reached 201 for six and looked sure at least to concede a sizeable first innings lead. The jaunty Adam Gilchrist arrived at the crease. He enthusiastically set about the bowlers to begin a reign of terror which would continue throughout the series. Gilchrist added 212 with Simon Katich, to take Australia to a deficit of only one run. New Zealand, thoroughly demoralised, capitulated to 131 and lost by nine wickets.

The horror show continued in the Second Test. Rain and low cloud wiped out the first day’s play. The fog lifted to reveal Gilchrist once more feeding with relish on the bowlers. This time Adam added 256 with Damien Martyn for the sixth wicket. Facing a daunting 570 for 8 declared, New Zealand managed only a brief struggle to a total of 244. Rain rescued them from further debacles on the fourth day. On the final day, 17 overs were enough to reduce them to 48 for three. Then the weather closed in to draw a veil over the mis-match. “Australia’s victory was moral rather than actual”, asserted Wisden.

One-nil down, New Zealand opted for a novel tactic to confound their enemies; selecting a pair of identical twins and batting them at No. 2 and No. 3 in the order. Ponting confessed he had no idea how his bowlers would distinguish one Marshall from the other. New Zealand hoped the twins’ strengths and weaknesses with the willow differed enough so they would both enjoy a delightful diet. James spoiled the ruse somewhat by wearing a forearm guard. Still, they took their team to 179 for two. The pace was funereal; New Zealand perhaps worried that they would be providing the corpses in any heated battle.

On the second day, the hosts moved from 199 for five to 292 all out. Ricky Ponting then appeared to have stolen Gilchrist’s elixir. Or the skipper may have simply of patience. He thrashed 105 in 110 balls, with thirteen fours and four sixes. That raised the match from its torpor, but Australia ended the day on 219 for four when Ponting and Martin were lost just before the close. Gillespie was sent in as nightwatchman for the last few minutes. Ponting reckoned Australia “still need two decent partnerships from here to be in command … hard work on a pitch where it is not easy to score if the bowling is disciplined.”

The next morning the running between the wickets was shocking. Only seven runs had been added when Gillespie pushed a ball to cover and called “Wait!” twice1. Clarke may have confused the Marshalls, thinking one was a duff fielder. James disabused Clarke of that theory. After this calamity, Jason set out with Simon Katich to give his captain one of the necessary decent partnerships. Showers and bad light caused disruption, but Jason illuminated the gloom with three lovely drives to the cover . Batting was not easy, as Ponting predicted. Gillespie was lucky to survive a leg before by ; Katich edged the same bowler twice very close to at ; and an inside edge onto Gillespie’s pad from just ballooned to safety. By lunch, however, the pair had taken Australia ahead on 293 for five. The stage was now set for a decent lead to be accumulated.

Showers delayed the start of the afternoon. They refreshed rather than dampened New Zealand, however. Jason Gillespie’s important innings was ended as he fended off Chris Martin to wicket- keeper Brendon McCullum. He had faced 146 balls, more than any of his team-mates. Gillespie’s departure started a sharp deluge. Katich and were dismissed to leave Australia on 303 for eight, only 11 runs ahead on a tricky wicket. Enter Gilchrist, New Zealand’s nightmare. There followed “a decisive unbeaten 60” (Wisden) to give Gilchrist 343 runs from three innings, as he once more haunted the Black Caps.

1 During one of many mix-ups over singles in the middle, Sam Cook of Gloucestershire cried to his batting partner; “Call, Bomber!” Bomber Wells decisively: “Heads!”

McGrath continued the distress by dismissing the top three, ensuring the Marshall twins would confuse only dressing-room attendants, and Gillespie took a screamer of a caught-and-bowled from Fleming to leave New Zealand ruined on 23 for four. Lower order resistance, including a 65 from to go with his unbeaten 41 in the first innings, left Australia 164 runs to win. The chase began mid-afternoon on the fourth day. It soon became apparent that New Zealand intended to slow the game down and pray for bad weather to escape with a draw. “It might rain all day tomorrow”, shouted one young New Zealand player to Ponting. Blood up at these tactics, the Australian captain made sure New Zealand suffered that evening rather than hope for joy in the morning. Once more, Ponting savaged the bowlers. He scored 86 off 84 balls with a dozen fours and two sixes to lead his team to another nine-wicket victory.

st New Zealand 1 Innings 292

Australia 1st Innings (overnight 219-4: Clarke 18, Gillespie 1)

JL Langer b Franklin 6 ML Hayden lbw b Franklin 38 RT Ponting c McCullum b Astle 105 DR Martyn b Wiseman 38 MJ Clarke run out 22 JN Gillespie c McCullum b Martin 35 SM Katich c Wiseman b Franklin 35 AC Gilchrist not out 60 SK Warne c Fleming b Franklin 1 MS Kasprowicz b Franklin 23 GD McGrath c McCullum b Franklin 0 Extras 20 ----- Total (118.1 overs) 383

FOW: 1-8, 2-84, 3-187, 4-215, 5-226, 6-297, 7-297, 8-303, 9-377

New Zealand 2nd Innings 254 and Australia 2nd Innings 166-1

“This game will always be known as Jason Gillespie’s Test … He was a tower around which the other twenty-one players played”: Adam Gilchrist

Bangladesh v Australia, Second Test, , April 2006

Gillespie considered his bowling at Auckland was his best of the New Zealand tour. A few months later during series Gillespie’s confidence as a bowler drained away. The decision not to reveal his pace variations until the Tests, six weeks into tour, saw him concede runs without taking many wickets. When the Tests started, negative thoughts could not be dispelled and the Third Test brought matters to a head. preferred batting with no third man so he could let the ball come on to the face of his bat to score easy runs, Despite knowing this Gillespie failed to insist on having a fielder there. His first over went for 10 runs, all to third man, and Jason could not lift himself afterwards. He was dropped for the rest of the series; his usual zip and shape at the end of his deliveries had disappeared. Back home after only a couple of balls in the nets at South Australia, the problem was diagnosed: Gillespie was not finishing his following-through properly, and therefore not attacking the crease. Problem solved, he had a wonderful domestic season but was not chosen for the home Tests, nor for the away series in . Expecting not to be selected for Australia, Gillespie signed on with Yorkshire for the 2007 English summer, joining Darren Lehmann there.

Australia won all three Tests in South Africa, but suffered injuries to quick bowlers and Michael Kasprowicz. Gillespie was called up, together with , for the tour of . Travel plans to Yorkshire postponed, Gillespie avoided English spring weather and headed for the sun. The Australian players, after ten months non-stop cricket, criticised the ACB over being allowed only four days between the end of the last Test in South Africa and the start of the first in Bangladesh. For the First Test at Fatullah, Australia decided to play five bowlers instead of the usual four. , and Shane Warne, along with Kasprowicz, had been the bowling attack in South Africa. They had been used heavily; the three Tests there were played in only 20 days. Jason Gillespie and Stuart MacGill were included so the surviving trio might have a lighter workload, especially in the heat expected in Bangladesh.

The tour had been subject to months of preparation and security checks, culminating in assurances being given by the Bangladesh Board and Government. During the First Test, security manager Reg Dickason felt decidedly less assured when he spotted on closed-circuit television a man in the crowd wearing a black bandana and pointing a gun towards the pitch. Dickason rushed to the scene and approached the gunman “hand in mouth” (Wisden), only to find he was a member of the government’s Rapid Action Brigade, employed to protect the Australians. A keen cricket fan, he was using his telescopic sight to get a better view.

Ponting found himself in the cross-hairs of a 100-strong media throng before the Test. In February 2006 in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Ponting had said, “I would not have Bangladesh and playing Tests at present.” The statement drew heavy criticism from Asia, not least as Ponting’s Australia had been beaten handily by Bangladesh, albeit in a ODI, at in June 2005. Under fire at the press conference, the Australian captain back-tracked a little, conceding, “Bangladesh have improved as a one-day side due to exposure and I guess that is why they are playing Test cricket.”

Ponting’s comments looked especially silly during the First Test when Australia fell to 93 for six in reply to Bangladesh’s 427. Brett Lee stayed for over an hour to move the score to 156 for seven. Jason Gillespie then batted for almost two hours to help Adam Gilchrist (144) save the follow-on. Bangladesh collapsed from 58 for one to 148 all out, but still left Australia 307 runs to get for victory. The tourists raced to 173 for one. Bangladesh fought back and at 231 for six, the match was in the balance. Lee added 46 with his captain. Half an hour later Jason cut the new ball for the winning runs. Ponting (118 not out); “Gillespie was terrific at the end of the First Test, scoring 4 not out and staying with me while we achieved the 30 runs needed to win the game.” The Australian captain was full of praise for his hosts, “They’ve played very, very well.” Gilchrist reckoned Australia “had survived the first Test by the skin of our teeth.”

Gillespie’s bowling had been excellent on a pitch offering little encouragement, and he took that form into the Second Test at Chittagong. With a point to prove, but facing a flat track, Jason started off Australia’s effort by removing the top three in an opening spell of 5-2-11-3. The spinners took over and Bangladesh were dismissed for 197. Australia eased to 76 but lost six overs or so before the close. Gillespie was sent in as nightwatchman. The second day was curtailed by thunder and lightning, and a prolonged shower that left the unfit for play. In the play possible, Gillespie stuck to his batting stratagem: sound defence with the occasional flash of strokeplay. He played four fine shots through the off side for boundaries and an elegant glide to fine leg for four. They accounted for 20 of the 23 runs Gillespie added to his score. Jason was reminded to stick to his plan by events at the other end. During his two hour innings in the First Test, Gillespie had deviated by convincing himself he could play the pull shot. The first time he attempted it he was bowled by Mohammad Rafique. “I vowed that if I got another chance to bat in the series I’d put that shot away. I didn’t do it again2.” His resolve was stiffened at Chittagong, when he saw dismissed by the same bowler to an equally ill-judged leg-side shot.

2 Abstinence can be taken too far. remembered hearing say, “I have had to steel myself to cut out all the shots that got me out. Now, I haven’t got any left.” The Maharajah of Porbander, India’s captain in their tour to England in 1932, realised he had the same problem. After scoring two runs in three first-class innings, he reverted to being a figure-head. The Maharajah was said to be the only cricketer in England to have more Rolls Royces than runs. On the third day Australia began on 151 for two. Gillespie, on 28, settled into his technique: foot down the track and bat in soft hands to the spinners; a straight blade to the seamers. Sometimes a bottom-hand follow-through from a defensive shot provided runs. Despite this sound approach, he was dropped behind in the over after the morning drinks interval by , edging an attempted cut off Rafique’s quicker ball, when on 44. This alarm may have pushed Jason into deeper concentration. At any rate half an hour later, he defended a ball to backward point and “being in my bubble I wasn’t even contemplating a run. I looked up and Ricky was halfway down the wicket.” His call ignored, Ponting was stranded and trudged off clearly annoyed. Gillespie recalled. “It was my fault. I felt pretty ordinary for a while. I thought ‘Shit, I better do alright here.’”

Naturally disinclined to join his enraged skipper in the pavilion, Gillespie batted circumspectly, adding just five more runs to his score off the 35 balls he faced between the run out and lunch. The new ball was taken just after lunch and immediately caused Gillespie problems. A decent leg before appeal was turned down and the next ball beat him outside off . In Hossain’s next over Jason was dropped in the gully. Mortaza induced a couple of false shots too3. Gillespie worked through the difficult period and gradually made progress; although he was to make only 34 scoring strokes from the 203 deliveries he received during the day. Jason drew inspiration from passing his bowling mates’ highest scores. Two boundaries off and an cover drive off Aftab Ahmed saw Gillespie reach 86 by drinks.

An edged four from Razzak took him to 90. Jason’s previous best first-class score was 58, but now he was within sight of a century. In a similar situation, an age before, had changed his approach with the milestone in view. Gillespie thought if he’d got into the nineties “sticking to my game plan, why rush? Just keep batting as you have been and the runs will come.” Tea was approaching, but Gillespie would not be hurried, especially as the day was getting gloomy. His next 18 balls garnered only two singles, but then he smashed a ball from Razzak to the extra cover fence. The umpires discussed the light. Two more runs took Gillespie to 98. While his team-mates clustered on the balcony in bundles of nerves, eleven balls were met with a dead bat or watched closely as they passed by. With one over to go before the interval, threw up a flighted delivery; Jason reached out and drove beautifully to the extra cover boundary. Reaching three figures was “a bizarre feeling because I had never gotten to a hundred in any form of cricket”. Quite as strange was the press conference concentrating on his batting and TV commentators discussing his wagon wheel of scoring. Gillespie’s 102 had come from 296 balls with 17 fours.

Poor weather ended play for the day at the tea interval. Australia were 364 for three and in control of the match. The following day was Jason’s 31st birthday, and a new man, evidently keen to celebrate, appeared at the crease. Under blue skies, wonderful shots were presented: Rafique was hit over the top and cut savagely; the earlier injunction not to pull was forgotten as Mortaza was despatched square of the wicket; and Razzak was lifted back over his head for glorious six. Gillespie drew breath, hauled Rafique to midwicket and drove a single off to long off to reach 150. The achievement was celebrated with a sweep to backward square for four off Rafique, and a huge six over midwicket from Rajin Saleh. drove Jason on by pointing out the Australian batsmen whose highest Test scores Gillespie was surpassing.

The Bangladesh bowlers were getting tired from the morning’s frolics. The field was quite deep and plenty of singles were available. By the second drinks break in the extended morning , Gillespie had reached 168. He and Hussey had added 144 runs in a mere 25 overs.

“In the 170s, I started to think the double was possible … I played a silly shot [driving at a delivery tossed up and wide of the off stump from Rajin Saleh, getting an edge to third-man] and straight away Michael Hussey came down to tell me off. He urged me not to throw it away.”

3 Bangladesh bowlers may have rued their misfortune during this period. Dave Halfyard, Kent’s master seam and cut bowler, regularly complained about his bad luck. One of Halfyard’s comments would have drawn high praise from Ray Ilingworth; “I’m doing so much with the ball, that they’re playing up the wrong line and middling it.” The inspirational Hussey was dismissed on 182, after the pair had added 166 that morning in 28 overs. At lunch Australia were 558 for four, Gillespie on 186. When play re-commenced, Jason moved steadily to 197. He then faced Rafique. The first ball was pushed carefully into the off-side. The second spread anxiety through the watching Australians as Gillespie played and missed outside off stump.

Calming heartbeats, the third was tucked round the corner to the fine leg boundary. Jason Gillespie, the first nightwatchman to score a double-century, had celebrated his birthday in grand style. Before play Jason had told TV commentator that “he was too limited in his batting to play more than four shots … but he pulled and cut as well as any of his batting colleagues” (Sydney Morning Herald). Gillespie’s second century came off 129 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

Bangladesh 1st Innings 197

st Australia 1 Innings (overnight Day1/2 76-1: Jaques 38, Gillespie 5) (overnight Day2/3 151-2: Gillespie 28, Ponting 19) (overnight Day3/4 364-3: Gillespie 102, Hussey 93)

ML Hayden c sub () b Mohammad Rafique 29 PA Jaques c b Mohammad Rafique 66 JN Gillespie not out 201 RT Ponting run out 52 MEK Hussey c Shahadat Hossain b Aftab Ahmed 182 MJ Clarke not out 23 Extras 28 ----- Total (4 wickets declared; 152.3 overs) 581

FOW: 1-67, 2-120, 3-210, 4-530

Bangladesh 2nd Innings 304

Ponting declared and the hero found himself having to bowl: “a downer – I bowled four overs and had a catch dropped by Warnie.” Australia relied on their spinners to dismiss Bangladesh during the fifth day. Gillespie’s unbeaten 201 was made in a touch over nine-and-a-half hours. “I thought it was a real testament to his concentration, really, to be able to bat for so long”, said Hussey. Not one to complement batsmen lightly (if at all), , Australian selector, “He thoroughly deserved it. He was a picture of concentration and control and like any good batsman he knew his limitations and strengths”.

Naturally, Gillespie has the top score by a nightwatchman. Yorkshire congratulated themselves on a prudent signing, although Darren Lehmann had a couple of concerns: “I’m afraid we’re never going to hear the end of it”, he told the Yorkshire Post.

“I daren’t speak to him at the moment because it would probably entail a two-hour phone call … He’ll probably want to go in something like No. 4, So we’ll have to knock that idea on the head pretty quickly. If he thinks he’s going in ahead of me he’s got another think coming. I know cricket’s a funny game, but it’s not that funny.”

Gillespie was re-signed by Yorkshire for the 2007 season, after playing a significant role in keeping the county in Division One of the Championship. In his penultimate innings in 2007, and helping him to cock a snook at Lehmann, Jason batted at No. 3. He top-scored with 44 as nightwatchman, but could not prevent Yorkshire slumping to their heaviest Roses defeat. Gillespie returned to Yorkshire as First Team Coach in 2012 and saw his charges re-gain their place in Division One of the County Championship with an undefeated season.

Jason Gillespie won Man of the Match and Man of the Series in Bangladesh, and thought he still had something to offer as a Test match player. However, he believed too many fast bowlers were ahead of him in the selectors’ minds. And so it proved. Gillespie became only the second man to be dropped from Test cricket immediately after scoring a double-century. The other chap is also associated with the White Rose - G Boycott, who got the axe after his 246 against India at Headingley in 1967 not, the selectors helpfully explained, for low scoring but for selfish batting ( broke the voodoo, being retained after his unbeaten 200 against Sri Lanka in 2014). Jason achieved the epitome of nightwatchmanship. Darren Lehmann summed up:

“What he’s done is a magnificent achievement – even if some people will say ‘Oh, well, it was only against Bangladesh’. To score a double hundred against whatever calibre of opposition is a brilliant performance and what he’s achieved in Chittagong will go down in history.”

Adam Gilchrist was over-joyed for Gillespie;

“He was such a great performer for Australia for so many years, and his implosion in England had been a tragic sight. To have him come back like this, for one final show, was like a grand actor returning to the stage for an encore. We all stood and applauded. No one has ever deserved more.” References

Chalke, Stephen, Runs in the Memory: in the 1950s, Fairfield Books, 1997

Gilchrist, Adam, True Colours, MacMillan, 2008.

Gillespie, Jason and Lawrie Colliver, Dizzy: The Jason Gillespie Story, HarperSports, 2007.

Ponting, Ricky, Captain’s Diary 2006, HarperSports, 2006.

Waugh, Steve, Out of My Comfort Zone, Penguin Books, 2005.