After smashing a devastating 57-ball century to help Australia win the legendary Adelaide Ashes Test of 2006, Adam Gilchrist revealed a secret that left everyone both amused and baffled. He'd been batting with a squash ball stuffed inside his bottom-hand glove. Yes, a squash ball. The small, bouncy kind that people use in squash courts. Inside his cricket glove. During an Ashes Test.
The revelation that one of cricket's most destructive batsmen had been playing international cricket with a squash ball in his glove was met with a mixture of laughter and incredulity. Why? Gilchrist explained it was to keep his bottom hand relaxed and prevent him from gripping the bat too tightly, allowing his top hand to control the shot better. The explanation made perfect biomechanical sense. The execution was still inherently ridiculous.
The cricketing world reacted with bemused fascination. Club cricketers everywhere started stuffing squash balls in their gloves, usually with significantly less success than Gilchrist — discovering that having a squash ball in your glove was uncomfortable, distracting, and unlikely to turn you into a world-class batsman unless you were already Adam Gilchrist. Equipment companies were caught off guard. Coaches debated whether it was genius or madness.
The answer, as Gilchrist's stunning century proved, was genius — but the image of a man playing cricket with a children's toy in his glove remained inherently funny. It was like finding out Usain Bolt ran in flip-flops, or that Roger Federer played tennis with a ping-pong ball in his pocket. Some secrets, once revealed, can never be taken seriously again.