Jason Gillespie, Australia 1996 to 2006
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Jason Gillespie, Australia 1996 to 2006 With homicidal eyes in a snarling face and long dark hair streaming in his wake as he bounded towards the crease, Jason Gillespie cowered many batsmen before he reached his delivery 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 bowling”. 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 Sydney in November 1996. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, 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 nightwatchman. He proved to be a quick learner. In the Sheffield Shield game immediately after his debut Test, Gillespie batted for almost five hours scoring 58 (his maiden first-class fifty) as nightwatchman to save the game for South Australia against Western Australia at Perth. 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 2005 Ashes series in England 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 Bridgetown 12-2 46-4 64 14 Dec 2000 West Indies Perth 62-2 123-4 112 23 Dec 2000 West Indies Adelaide 169-3 187-4 41 4 Mar 2004 Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 79-2 80-3 5 1 Oct 2004 India Chepauk (Chennai) 145-4 285-6 242 26 Mar 2005 New Zealand Christchurch 140-3 201-6 108 12 Mar 2005 New Zealand Auckland 215-4 297-6 150 35 Aug 2005 England Birmingham 136-6 137-8 4 0 Jason Gillespie’s NWM Appearances in Test matches before 2006 “That partnership was probably the most crucial few hours of the series”: Adam Gilchrist Jason Gillespie, Second Test, Madras (now Chennai), October 2004 In 2004-05 Australia were still seeking their first series win in India since Bill Lawry. The previous two tours had both ended in 2-1 victories for India. In contrast to previous generations of cricketers, the Australian tour party were familiar with India. Rod Marsh 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 captain, remembered that all the tourists in 2004-05 were seasoned in Indian conditions. The hosts played the first two Tests without Sachin Tendulkar, who was suffering from tennis elbow. The First Test at Bangalore was won comfortably by Australia. Remembering India had come back from losing the First Test in 2001, Sourav Ganguly promised India could recover. Hot and humid conditions again welcomed the teams to the Chepauk ground 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, Mohammad Kaif and Zaheer Khan were hospitalised because of dehydration. Australia won the toss, batted and marched to 189 for two. Anil Kumble then accounted for the remaining eight wickets - seven from his bowling and one run out - as Australia collapsed to 235 all out. Virender Sehwag took up the cudgels, scoring 155 as India ran up a first innings 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 bye off the last ball of the penultimate over 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. Peter Roebuck 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. Damien Martyn 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 Harbhajan Singh but was dropped. Then, having added a single to his score and seeking more, he presented Harbhajan with a caught-and-bowled 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 century. They had been together for four hours, when just before tea Martyn was undone by Harbhajan’s doosra. 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 Test cricket ...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?” “Batting 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 not out 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 Darren Lehmann 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 number, 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 Nagpur. 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 wicket. 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.