Gilly don’t go!

By Kowalski

The Walker, as he is admiringly called, is considering walking away from one-day cricket to make sure that his Test career is prolonged.

Yes folks, Adam Gilchrist is pondering one-day retirement and bowlers might rejoice at the thought but fans, including yours truly, are just hoping that he hangs around for some more time.

The important question at the moment is what has prompted the Aussie opener to drop such hints. After all, the stumper has maintained all along that he would not give up one form of the game to prolong his career in the other.

Well, it seems Gilly has had enough of the punishing international schedule and, at 35, the legs aren't getting younger either. Add to this the birth of his third child and Gilly says he can't afford to ignore his life outside cricket.

"Up until the last 12 months, I had never been a guy to consider phasing out one form of the game and just focusing on one. But I am open to thinking about that now. I am entering another phase in my life with our third child. There is a lot of cricket coming up over the next three years, so there are things to consider."

And finally, though he has not listed this as one of the reasons for his retirement deliberations, but Gilly is also a bit concerned about developing arthritis, like his father Stan, due to his demanding job.

"I'm in an occupation that I squat up and down 600 times a day so the chances of me having an arthritic condition are probably pretty high," he said.

So, where does his retirement, whenever it happens, leaves Australian cricket. The man, credited for redefining the role of a wicketkeeper in modern cricket, cannot be replaced that easily.

His most obvious replacement, Brad Haddin, has played only 21 ODIs and it would take some time for the 29-year-old to be the new batting-cum-'keeping mainstay for the World Champions.

And the Aussie vice-captain is not just a run-machine or a safe pair of hands behind the stumps. He was Steve Waugh's and now Ricky Ponting's go-to man on those rare occasions when Aussies find themselves in trouble. Churchy makes sure that his skipper is never short of advice while planning out opposition's downfall.

And if I may add, he is also the Good Samaritan, who time and again makes the world realise that "the rude" Aussies, as some critics would describe them, are not as bad as they are made out to be.

Here's hoping that Gilly stays put and doesn't walk away any time soon!

(Photo: swindonweb.com)