Top 20 in 2020: The best Test moments, No.3

There are moments in cricket, as in all sport, that are so memorable you can recall exactly where you were and who you were with when they happened.

Be they back-to-the-wall hundreds or feats of individual brilliance, they are the moments you've re-watched countless times in the years since and still get chills every time.

Re-live the countdown so far: 20-18 | 17-15 | 14-12 | 11-9 | 8-6 | 5 | 4

As part of our 20 in 2020 countdown series, we're looking back at the 20 most memorable moments from Test matches played on Australian soil in the past 20 years.

They might not be the best innings ever played, or the perfect bowling performance, but rather moments that are quite simply unforgettable.

We continue today with number 3 in our Top 20 countdown of the best Test moments and we will take a look at the top batting and bowling performances in the coming weeks as well.

Make sure you return to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app every day this week as we continue the countdown all the way to No.1

3) Gilchrist launches at the WACA

WACA Ground, 2006

Image Id: 8499F431816F4594B3E37060DE1B9CD4

By Andrew Ramsey

It's not the most fanciful theory peddled by cricket conspiracists and revisionist historians that - but for the formation of a catching cordon in a Test match played four months earlier - the outcome of the 2007 ICC World Cup might have been drastically different.

That ODI tournament, played in the Caribbean, ended with Australia comfortably defeating Sri Lanka as night fell on Barbados to complete a third consecutive World Cup triumph which was built largely upon opener Adam Gilchrist's incandescent 149 from 104 balls faced.

But in a 'sliding doors' moment that offers no solace to Sri Lanka's besieged bowlers or their still-shellshocked fans, Gilchrist has acknowledged that he quite likely would have terminated his international career if fortune had not visited him at the WACA Ground during the preceding Australian summer.

As has been extensively documented previously, despite the euphoria that accompanied Australia's redemptive Ashes whitewash of 2006-07, Gilchrist had endured a lean run with the bat leading into the third Test in front of fans from his adopted home city of Perth.

After being tormented by the recurring vision of England allrounder Andrew Flintoff dominating him by bowling around the wicket throughout Australia's 2005 Ashes defeat in the UK, Gilchrist pocketed a duck in the first Test of the return bout in Brisbane in 2006 and was soon eyeing retirement.

Another scoreless innings on day one at the WACA led the pre-eminent wicketkeeper-batsman of his era to tell his wife, Mel, upon returning home that he had reached the conclusion to draw the curtain on his international career at the end of that Ashes campaign.

Mel, his long-time confidante and counsellor, challenged his assertion on the basis she sensed Gilchrist was "sulking" after his first-ball duck at the WACA, but when he again walked to the wicket on a stiflingly hot Perth afternoon two days later, the Australia vice-captain remained unconvinced.

Image Id: 7BF17F9161BC40399759C863A6C23AA5 Image Caption: Flintoff was no match for Gilchrist at the WACA // Getty

In keeping with his tortured recent history, Gilchrist was immediately confronted by Flintoff coming at him from around the wicket and the third delivery he faced from the then England captain took the edge of the Australian's angled bat and flew at catching height in the region of gully.

The fact that Australia's score had passed 350 and their lead in the Test that already loomed as the Ashes decider was nearing 400 meant Flintoff had deployed some of those catchers he would normally have stationed behind the wicket into run-saving positions in the baking outfield.

Consequently, the edge that drew a sharp intake of the hot summer air from the expectant crowd, and caused a momentary flash of panic from the anxious batter, pitched harmlessly in unoccupied territory and rolled across the boundary rope at third man unimpeded.

Had it been instead accepted at head height by a fielder waiting in a gully position, and a pair of ducks inked against his name for the first time in Tests on Australian soil, Gilchrist admits it's almost certain he would have retired after the campaign's final Test in Sydney.

Image Id: 9F7ABBE7B0FC4BF284878D45F1ABBC7E Image Caption: Gilchrist played with immense freedom // Getty

"If I’d been dismissed for nought and walked off, I probably would’ve told everyone I was done," Gilchrist told cricket.com.au in 2017.

"I remember pushing out and getting a big, thick edge through what should’ve been the gully position and no one was there and it went away for four.

"I thought 'wow that’s amazing, how lucky I was to get away with that' and it got me off the mark.

"Next ball was a similar delivery and I actually got up and played a really nice back foot punch through the covers, right out of the middle of the bat.

"Very quickly I realised what a fine line it is."

Even if that catch had gone to hand and Gilchrist had walked away from Test cricket alongside teammates Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer at series end, it's highly likely he would have continued in ODI colours for the World Cup that was to follow.

When he finally confirmed his departure from Test cricket at the conclusion of the following Test summer in 2008, Gilchrist maintained his role as opener and keeper for Australia's 10-match ODI tri-series marathon against India and Sri Lanka.

However, it was the joy of batting that Gilchrist rediscovered after that near miss against England at the WACA which proved as crucial to his blazing World Cup Final cameo as did his decision to forestall his international retirement.

On that Saturday afternoon at the WACA, Gilchrist freed his mind and then his arms as he went after England spinner Monty Panesar (who was responsible for Gilchrist's golden duck in the first innings) and then other members of the tourists' impotent bowling attack, including his former tormentor Flintoff.

That memorable knock, which remains the fastest century scored in Ashes Tests (from 57 balls) and contained 12 fours and four sixes, in itself was the product of serendipity and mixed messaging.

Image Id: E89C8182D44140B78014743229A97A45 Image Caption: Gilchrist celebrates a memorable hundred // Getty

Gilchrist had reached 32 from a comparatively conservative 25 balls faced when drinks were taken during the enervating final session, at which point he and his batting partner Michael Clarke asked 12th man Mitchell Johnson to quiz skipper Ricky Ponting whether he was planning a pre-stumps declaration.

To save Johnson having to relay that message on foot in the heat, they advised a simple thumbs-up (chase quick runs as a declaration looms) or thumbs-down (keep wickets intact and bat out the day) from the dressing room to confirm the plan.

Both batsmen claim they distinctly saw an upraised thumb from within the inner sanctum, and promptly carved 107 runs from the next 10 overs – 70 of them scored by Gilchrist – before Ponting called them in.

The Australia captain maintains to this day, however, that his strategy (which was signalled to the pair in the middle) was to keep batting until stumps if possible, and the source of the legendary miscommunication that ensued remains unknown.

While his unbeaten century came from one delivery more than ex-West Indies skipper Viv Richards' then record for the fastest Test hundred (from 56 balls faced) – since reduced to 54 by New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum's in 2016 – it instantly enlivened Gilchrist's passion for the game.

"People ask whether that was my best innings or my favourite innings, but it’s probably neither of those," Gilchrist recalled.

"It was certainly the most fun innings I’ve had in Test cricket.

"It reminded me of why I started playing the game, at a time when I was just doubting myself a little bit.

"It allowed me to clear away all of the peripheral stuff and remember why you play the game.

"It allowed me to launch in to another 12-18 months of cricket that I might never have had."

Gilchrist used that landmark WACA century as a reference point when he found himself entering the World Cup Final against Sri Lanka on the back of a similarly lean run of results from preceding matches.

Having reached 50 just once throughout the showpiece tournament – an undefeated 59 in Australia's quick-fire pursuit of Bangladesh's 105 in a rain-plagued fixture – Gilchrist then returned scores of 1 and 1 in the matches immediately prior to the play-off.

It was the recollection of how he had turned it around in Perth as much as the squash ball he secreted within his left batting glove (to stop him 'strangling' the bat handle with his bottom hand) that enabled him to play such a destructive innings on the game's biggest stage.

At a time when, but for that moment of priceless luck at the WACA months earlier, Gilchrist might otherwise have been settling into post-cricket life.

Top 20 in 2020: Best Test moments countdown (so far)

20) Legends bid farewell

19) Warner dines out before lunch

18) Smith's brave last stand

17) Hussey and McGrath's final stand

16) McGrath predicts his milestone moment

15) Perfect delivery cooks England skipper

14) McGrath's miracle catch

13) Perry celebrates 200 ... twice

12) The Harmison ball

11) Warne falls heartbreakingly short

10) A trio of Test triples

9) A fitting tribute to a fallen friend

8) McGrath & Gillespie's batting masterclass

7) Collapses and controversy in SCG nail-biter

6) Amazing Adelaide

5) Peter Siddle's birthday hat-trick

4) Shane Warne's 700th wicket

3) Gilchrist launches at the WACA

Make sure you return to cricket.com.au and the CA Live app every day this week as we continue the countdown all the way to No.1