On November 22, 1999 in only his second Test, Adam Gilchrist made an unbeaten 149 to chase down 369 against Pakistan at Bellerive Oval. He and Justin Langer added an unbroken 238 for the sixth wicket — Australia won by 4 wickets and Gilchrist's wicketkeeper-batter revolution was launched.
Gilchrist had been waiting in the wings behind Ian Healy since 1996. His ODI promotion had begun the previous year. Healy retired in October 1999 after a long Australian career; Gilchrist was the immediate Test replacement.
Gilchrist had finally taken over from Ian Healy after years of waiting. His Test debut at Brisbane (5 catches and 81) was promising, but Hobart announced what kind of player he would be. Australia were set 369 to win in their second innings — Pakistan's largest fourth-innings target ever defended would be 351, and the pitch was deteriorating. Australia slipped to 126 for 5; Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting all gone. Gilchrist walked in to join Justin Langer (52 at the time). What followed was extraordinary. Gilchrist drove, swept, cut and pulled the Pakistan attack — Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar — for boundary after boundary. He brought up his maiden Test hundred off 109 balls and barely paused. Langer (127) and Gilchrist (149*) put on 238 — at the time the highest sixth-wicket partnership in fourth-innings Test cricket. Australia won by 4 wickets. Gilchrist had just played the innings of his life in his second Test.
Australia 126/5 — Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Ponting all out
Gilchrist walks in at No. 7
Reaches 50 in 50 balls
Hundred in 109 balls — maiden Test ton
Langer-Gilchrist 238 unbroken for the 6th wicket
Australia win by 4 wickets — Gilchrist 149*
November 18, 1999
Test begins; Pakistan 222.
Day 4
Australia set 369 to win; 126/5 at one point.
November 22, 1999 — Day 5
Gilchrist 149* and Langer 127 see Australia home by 4 wickets.
“I just played the way I always played. The pitch was a bit slow but we kept finding boundaries.”
“Watching Adam bat that day was like watching a different sport.”
The arrival of the most transformative wicketkeeper-batter cricket has seen. Hobart 149* set the tone for the next decade.
The Hobart innings is a landmark in cricket. Gilchrist redefined the wicketkeeper-batter role — every modern keeper-batter from MS Dhoni to Quinton de Kock owes their conceptual job description to him. The 238-run partnership with Langer also began one of Test cricket's great middle-order partnerships.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.