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Adam Gilchrist Exclusive
Transcript
00:00Well, it's eight years since I left, so there's been maybe you could say a few different permutations
00:15of Australian team. Obviously, Ricky played on as captain for a while, so that was one
00:23little section, and then Michael Clarke's captaincy period. And of course, now it has
00:29a new feel to it. Obviously, Steve Smith, well and truly, it's his tenure now as captain.
00:39And what I see is players fighting for positions in the team. I don't see a lot of stable or
00:48there's not a lot of stability at the moment. And this isn't a criticism of those players
00:52or anything. It's just where the team's evolved to at the moment. It's sort of trying to,
00:59as a unit, settle and get that continuity and the consistency both in results and in
01:07team selection. And it's hard to know what comes first, good results or good selection
01:16and so on, and which one feeds off the other. But it is a team that's just trying to find
01:25a stable base, and it doesn't seem to be able to achieve that just at the moment.
01:32I think they've got to continue to just back their ability, believe in their own ability.
01:42You don't get to international cricket standard in any nation without being a talented individual
01:49player. So they've got to have belief that they have the skills and that they can go
01:53out there and mix it with the best. And then moving from an individual mindset to a collective
01:59team unit, it's got to be important that they're all working together. And around the edges
02:07of the Australian cricket team at the moment, there's a lot of discussion and conjecture
02:12and topics of past players and clashing personalities. The quicker that they can remove themselves
02:21from that, and I'm sure Darren Leeman and the leadership team are trying to do that,
02:28the more they can move away from that, the easier it will be to focus on the job at hand.
02:35Yeah, I don't know Steve in depth. I know him and I've spoken to him a lot, but I don't,
02:42I've never toured with him. I haven't played cricket with him. But so I'm judging from
02:46afar and I'm judging from talking to those that are around him. And he looks to me like
02:52he's definitely the man to lead that team. He's going to learn as he goes. All leaders
03:01learn once they assume full time the responsibility and that's the challenge for him. But he looks
03:10to me like a young man that's hungry to do it. He loves the game. He's a good thinker
03:16of the game. So yeah, I think he's the right guy and I think it's just a challenging period
03:22that will help him learn the role of captain. It looks to me like David Warner has really
03:30embraced the role as vice captain and he's thriving on that. It's really important that
03:37those two are working together and get through this sort of challenging time and lay the
03:43foundation to move ahead.
03:48It seems that opponents are saying the Australian team is now a toothless tiger compared to
03:53what it used to be and I guess that's talking about the verbal stouches on the field. It
03:59doesn't matter what you say on the field. It doesn't matter if you're abusing someone
04:03or being smiling and nice. It means nothing unless you're backing it up with performance.
04:10The Australian team I think are in a little phase where I said earlier they're just lacking
04:15a bit of confidence. So with that they're maybe losing the desire to go out there and
04:21posture and they're not feeling like it's what they should be doing. They're probably
04:27thinking they've just got to focus on the cricket and that's fine. I think there's more
04:33speculated about sledging and about it being a tactic than actually what happens. In our
04:41era we didn't sit down and make a match plan of who we're going to sledge and what we're
04:46going to say. It's an emotional game out on the field and things happen in the spur of
04:54the moment. Some players react better than others. Some are more balanced. Some are calm.
04:59Some aren't. I guess that's the theatre of sport, the beauty of sport that you get to
05:04watch the emotions. The great players withdraw the emotion from it and then rely on their
05:10skill and that's what makes them succeed. This current team at the moment, I don't know
05:16that they've said we're not sledging anymore. I just think it looks to me like they're just
05:19down on confidence and that's not part of their mindset.
05:24Don't put me down as an angel. I was involved in a few scraps. Definitely. I didn't go out
05:35there with the intention to get into a fight, so to speak, because I always felt as soon
05:41as I said something, I felt really nervous. At the end of the day, if I'm batting and
05:47a ball is coming in and I say something back, you can get out the very next ball. Even if
05:53you're on 100, even if you're not. Or if I was wicket-keeping, I thought, oh, I shouldn't
05:58have said anything because if I then drop a catch, I look the fool. So I got nervous
06:05whenever I got myself. But sometimes, as I say, you're so hyped up and the adrenaline's
06:10going and the emotions are flying around, you find yourself in a verbal stash that you
06:15didn't plan for. But I didn't go out there with the intent. As I say, I don't think there's
06:21as much sledging in cricket as what people perceive or like to portray.
06:30That book, I tried to focus more looking internally than externally at others, and I wasn't on
06:37any campaign to talk about other people and their faults or discrepancies and issues.
06:45So hopefully I got that. But of course, there's always little things. And the other thing,
06:50that was my recollection of my journey. So I absolutely can say if someone says, no,
06:56that happened something different, and I don't remember it that way, that's fine. Everyone's
06:59got their opinions and entitled to their memories because we're talking about lengths of time
07:05that go back 10, 15, 20 years. So that was my recollection. And say on the Satchin one,
07:11I wrote in there about we felt, and I felt after a game, that he could have been more
07:16sporting. He didn't come in and shake hands. And that captures the headline because Satchin,
07:22he's the best player I've played against and absolute highest echelon as legend of the
07:28game. India passionate about it. So, but I spoke to Satchin straight after that. We spoke
07:33on the phone and he clarified to me about that situation. And I said, look, apologies
07:39if I got it wrong. That's what we felt at the time and what I wrote. And you clear the
07:44air. I think you confronted, if someone's offended by something or disappointed, as
07:50was the case for my career, just talk about it. So I don't sit here and think I should
07:55retract that statement. That was my recollection of that event at that time. And if that is
08:02the way I saw it conflicted with the way Satchin saw it, which it clearly did, but we've spoken
08:06about that. And I like that, that now I can put my hand on my heart and say, the air is
08:12clear. I don't have any grudge about that. And everything read in full context shows
08:18you exactly what the meanings are. So yeah, so I don't think of any, that's one little
08:25thing in a book that had a lot of details in it. I don't know that there's anyone around
08:29that I can't walk up to and say hello and have a friendly conversation with where they're
08:35thinking what you said was wrong.
08:40The IPL was really the pioneering event of all the T20 leagues around the world now.
08:48Every nation now has their own T20 league and has tried to almost copycat the IPL's
08:54version. Some have been done extremely well. The Big Bash in Australia is a fantastic league
09:01and really well run and administrated, well watched and participated by the viewing audience
09:09and the crowds. Some countries haven't got it right, maybe rushed into it and didn't
09:14have the foundation right and the backing to make it successful. But the IPL was an
09:21amazing time in my cricketing career. It was right at the end of my traditional career,
09:26if you like. So I went into that first tournament, like everyone, having no idea what it was
09:32going to be like. Were we going to be serious? Was it going to be hit and giggle? But from
09:39that opening day, opening night when McCullum hit that 150, it was game on and everyone
09:46knew it was going. It's become more refined over every edition, but it was very serious,
09:52intense cricket. I thought I might play one year because I'd just retired and I ended
09:59up playing six. So it's a bit addictive, you wanted to be a part of it. But it was a wonderful
10:08experience and great to get to know so many other opponents a little bit more closely
10:14and broaden that sort of friendship group that cricket already provides.
10:20T20 cricket, and even one day cricket, I think still has a place. It's just about the volumes
10:28of cricket that I think need to be addressed. But they're very important to the game. I
10:35thought they're great, experiment there, but leave Test cricket alone. That was my initial
10:40thoughts. That's the masterpiece. You don't graffiti it, you just leave it. It's a pure
10:46game. Allow that to keep going. But I think I'm starting to probably understand and realise
10:56that for Test cricket to maintain any sort of standing in the current world that we live
11:03in, the lifestyles, the landscape that is around in a sporting sense and just in a general
11:10social sense, I think Test cricket may need to be changed somewhat. Whether it's day-night
11:19cricket, pink ball, or perhaps I know the discussion is around about four-day Tests.
11:25Will that mean that the entertainment on offer is hastened, it's quickened up and a day where
11:35a team bats for a whole day building up to prepare for the final onslaught may need to
11:41happen a little bit quicker. That might be a bit more contemporary around what life and
11:46lifestyles are like at the moment. I'm very much more open-minded now about changes to
11:51the game to keep it contemporary and at front of mind for the current life that we lead.
11:59Yes, my first tournament in 1998 was a great experience. I'd not played here before, not
12:08been here before, to this region. All I remember there is Sachin Tendulkar batting. He scored
12:14100, back-to-back 100s in two one days. One in the last round, Robin, and then one in
12:20the final, I think on his birthday from memory. It was a fascinating place to come and play
12:27cricket, totally different from anything that I'd grown up playing, totally different environment.
12:33It's been wonderful to be able to come back with such regularity, both in a playing sense
12:39and now in various roles and capacities, like this one as brand ambassador for the University
12:45of Wollongong and the Dubai campus here now. Wonderful part of the world and always really
12:53interesting to come here.
12:57University of Wollongong