Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist has revealed his dropped catch off India's VVS Laxman convinced him to retire from international cricket.
Gilchrist, 36, missed the chance in the final Test of Australia's series win and said: "I knew somewhere between the ball hitting my gloves and the ground.
"That catch - I watched a replay and I just moved really slow.
"I realised I didn't have the absolute desperation that you need to continue to maintain your standards."
Unaccustomed as I am to offering praise to an Australian sportsman, I make an exception for Gilchrist. Not only was he a demonstrably honest man, who 'walked' when he nicked one (never caught on with his team mates, Yes - that's YOU, Symonds!), he was the most entertaining batsman of his generation, which is saying something when Lara and the Indian middle order have been around these last ten years. Good on yer, Gilly!
Read his reason for going, admire his honesty and compare him to the incompetents we come across in all sorts of positions in life who just don't know when to quit, even when honour and responsibility suggests that they clear their desks immediately.
"I knew [it was time to quit] somewhere between Northern Rock/the Armed Forces/the new Wembley Stadium hitting my gloves and the ground" - insert your own disastrous event - and it is a sentence that one simply cannot imagine being uttered by a public servant in this country.
17 comments:
Trouble is Idle, they don't need to as most of those in 'power' will be kicked out when Brown's rumbled.
Shining example of fair play from Gilchrist and the sort of thing which sport needs desperately!
I wish you were right, Scrobs, but fear you are not. All too often the civil service Sir Humphreys survive government change like rats or weeds survive all that nature throws at them.
Mais Oui, Je knew it was time to quit when zey turned ze securities system on at SocGen et ils all discovered que Je had been a naughty prat. Zut alors! Marchons, Marchons.
Idle: NuLab Don`t do quitting. They are the law. Only we can make the B......S quit.
I`m going to have to leave this Country, I beginning to hate everything about it !
Merms: That is a very interesting "tounge", in which you speak Is it Esperfracaisgermano, perchance ?
Oooh Le Trubes! Tu es tres clever, mais non, Je parle seulement une language, si bene, due lingua, Da? Oder drei, chitiri perchance. Toutes de fruit de pommes. Cherchez la douche? Nemen sie erste strasse links, a delle broccoli? eeeeeeeeeeeeek
cannot compute... brain.. busted... civil service been tapping mermaid's thoughts again.... bzzzt *pop*
I know how to say "one for the road" in Gurkhali - "eck battu kolagi", which I hope may be useful one day. Also "my friend will pay" in several languages, which is always a help.
I went to a very strange industry event at the Grosvenor House last night, merms - were you there? I met one financial journo type, used to be at the beeb under Peter Jay, who he said was the most workshy and useless editor he ever came across.
I won't be drinking with you then, Idle.
I only speak two languages - English and Cockney.
These days, anyone admitting an error will probably be on the receving end of legal action within the month. Or else have his team-mates/fellow MPs call in the men in white coats - "must be something seriously wrong with the fellow"
Off topic Idle but the details for Stubb Hill APddock, Iping Lane, dropped on the mat here this lunchtime. On with Jackson-Stops. Anywhere near the idle wee nook?
Yes, tuscan. Drive past it every morning and evening. Owned by a couple of London lawyers who awere all over us like a cheap suit when they first bought it as a weekend retreat. Drawback (look away, merms) - babbling bible bashers. Two girls about the same age as ours.
Dogs dinner of cottage, the lady idle reminds me.
Gotta run to Redford for dins.
Ahhh, Redford. Used to touch on the place on our Sunday morning constitutional from Sussex Towers (still on the market I note). The Lady Tuscana (being a mezzo soprano 'n all) occasionally sang in the church down the road at Sheet. *wipes nostalgic tear from the eye*
Enjoy your soiree.
Well, Sheeet - there's a thing.
Only suitable for midgets too. What HAVE they done to the fireplace?
a refreshing revelation especially considering aussie cricketers are as competitive as a mob of rabid gladiators. gives one a glimmer of hope for humankind :-)
I fear Gilly was a one-off, glob.
I stood and chatted to the Oz team when they last played a tour opener at Arundel. With the exception of McGrath and Gillespie, they were all pint-sized porgs, with bristly small-man complexes to match.
The dropped catch and the quiet word in the ear from the selectors methinks. Despite the first sentence I agree with the comparison you were making.
Politicians don't resign the same way turkeys never vote for an early xmas.
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