KEY POINTS:
Before Adam Gilchrist strode out to bat in Australia's second innings in Perth, the mutterers had been at work.
His best batting days were behind him was the whisper. After all, his scores in the Ashes series until Saturday had been 0, 64 and 0.
Never mind that
this is the most successful wicketkeeper-batsman in 129 years of test cricket. Forget the 16 previous test hundreds and the average of 48.48 over 87 tests. The word was that time might be catching up on the transplanted West Australian.
Well, cop this, the 35-year-old, who moved west from rural New South Wales because he thought the door was shut on him in the east, might have been saying on Saturday night.
When Gilchrist arrived at the crease Australia weren't exactly reeling at 365 for five. They were 394 ahead overall and the thermometer in the middle had hovered in the mid-40s much of the day.
Old-timers are wont to say things aren't what they used to be. Sometimes they have a point. Often they don't.
Gilchrist marched to 50 off 40 balls. There was a time when that would have been, if not unique, then certainly rare.
But around then, Gilchrist thought he'd best get a sit. rep. from the dressing room. He fancied having a dart at left arm spinner Monty Panesar, but thought he'd better get approval from the skipper.
At times like this, we should thank the Almighty for miscommunications.
"Can we press on?" was Gilchrist's message to Ricky Ponting.
"We read it as a yes. Apparently it was a no," Gilchrist said.
And off he went. He barrelled along, taking an Ashes record 24 in one Panesar over and was on 97 off 54 balls. It's not exactly degree grade mathematics to figure that Gilchrist had smeared 47 in 14 balls.
West Indian legend Viv Richards holds the world record for the fastest test hundred, 56 balls off England at his beloved Antigua in 1986.
Gilchrist professed later he didn't know how close he was to the mark, and anyway Richards probably deserved to hang onto the mark, he added magnanimously. He got to 100 in 57 balls, an Australian record, making Jack Gregory's 67-ball effort for Australia against South Africa in 1921-22 seem yawn-inducing.
Australians still talk about Doug Walters' century between tea and stumps, also at the Waca, against England in 1974, when he biffed fast bowler Bob Willis into the crowd at mid-wicket off the final delivery of the day to reach 100.
By comparison, Gilchrist had time for a bath, meal and nap after completing his rout of a clueless England attack.
It was the most captivating sporting television of the weekend. In the closing deliveries, Gilchrist was trying to beat a field with bowler, wicketkeeper and one fielder within 30m of him. The other eight were spread round the boundary. Abject surrender by England's skipper Andrew Flintoff.
Watching Gilchrist bat is to imagine a batsman starting his innings on 60. There are few preambles.
The short ball is despatched through midwicket or point/cover; over-pitch and the arc from cover to mid wicket are in business. A dot ball is merely a catching of the breath.
There's a strong case that Gilchrist is the most exciting batsman of his generation. Okay, his captain's no slouch and there are others kicking about who can entertain and rate as A stream achievers, such as Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis and Kevin 'The Ego' Pietersen.
But Gilchrist is different. The fact that he marches to his own tune in other respects - such as his personal decision to walk when out, which had teammates spluttering into their XXXX cans - adds to his standing.
Next year's World Cup in the Caribbean might be it for Gilchrist. No doubt Australia's production line will produce another decent keeper. But he won't be a 'Gilly'.
We should enjoy the flap-eared dazzler while we can.
