United rivals- The all time best Ashes XI

7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia, wk):

Ashes statistics – Matches: 20. Catches: 89. Stumpings: Seven. Runs: 1,083. Average: 38.68. Centuries: Three. Highest Ashes score: 152.

With a career that straddled two centuries, Gilchrist was a cricketing contradiction, a revolutionary contemporary harking back to a bygone era. His swashbuckling batting style, reminiscent of amateur freedom and naivety, was coupled with a refreshing honesty in the modern game – he famously walked having not been given out in the 2003 World Cup semi-final. But he was a 21st century sports star in so many way, so destructive with the bat that he redefined the role of wicketkeeper batsman, effectively rendering specialist glovesmen obsolete in the modern era. In his first Ashes series in 2001, “Gilly” strode in at seven and belted 340 runs at a batting average of 68.00, as well as nabbing 26 dismissals.

He cared not for his average, but for accelerating the run rate and forcing home Australia’s advantage. In 2006 he passed 5,000 Test runs, and later in the year hit an incredible 57-ball century in the third Ashes Test at Perth. With 416 dismissals behind the stumps, Gilchrist also tops the list of Aussie keepers ahead of Ian Healy and Rod Marsh. Adam Gilchrist is truly a revolutionary player, and an all-time Ashes great. In his own words: “The beauty of [Ashes] contests is you can never be sure who’s going to win.” Gilchrist has to find a place, though honourable mentions to Alan Knott and Rod Marsh who were titans of Ashes cricket, but Gilchrist certainly owns’ a place in the XI.