Adam Gilchrist's 149* in Hobart — The Great Escape, 1999

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.

First Test at Brisbane: Gilchrist on debut, 81, five catches. Pakistan won the toss in Hobart and made 222. Australia 246 in reply. Pakistan 392 in their second innings (Inzamam 118). Australia set 369 to win — almost certainly a draw or defeat.

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.

“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.”

Australia took the series 3-0. Gilchrist's career took off; he averaged 47 in Tests with a strike rate of 81 and 17 hundreds — utterly unprecedented for a wicketkeeper-batter. He was central to Australia's three World Cup wins (1999, 2003, 2007) and the dominance of the 2000s.