There's something about Adam Gilchrist and his shot-making.
The flamboyant Australian wicket-keeper batsman found his golden touch again with the bat on Friday as he steamrolled the world's fastest and smartest bowlers for a record-breaking century in the second One-Day International of the ICC Super Series.
He played fierce, he played tidy, and he played downright cheeky to score 103 runs off 79 balls.
Andrew Flintoff, who out-thought Gilchrist during the Ashes series and sported a cunning smile after he beat the bat regularly in the first ODI on Wednesday, came in for a special treatment. Shaun Pollock, smarting under past performances brought Flintoff into the attack. Gilchrist cut the first ball he faced from the all-rounder to the cover boundary. Take that!
The faster men were pounded round the roofed park. Gilly played the trademark six over mid-wicket thrice and smashed the ball through the covers five times for four. In all, he hit eight fours and four sixes to record a 73-ball hundred, surpassing the previous best of 78 he shared with former Australia captain Allan Border.
The knock inspired Australia to 328 for four, a score that proved too intimidating for the best in the world.
Though the batsman was modest as usual about the spectacle, rambling about the help from the wicket and his 'mates, captain Ricky Ponting summed it in a word -- "unbelievable".
Somehow Gilly just makes it all believable!
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