Gilchrist ploy a storm in a glove, says CA

SYDNEY: Australian cricket officials on Tuesday dismissed Sri Lankan claims that Adam Gilchrist's use of a squash ball as a batting aid in last month's World Cup final was unfair.   

Team vice captain Gilchrist, whose record-breaking 149 led Australia to their fourth title in the Caribbean, said he used the squash ball in one of his gloves to give him a better grip.   

"It's a storm in a teacup, or a batting glove," Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said on Tuesday.   

"To the best of our knowledge it's no different to, say, putting two or three grips on the bat handle, or batting with two pairs of gloves or having inserts sewn into the palm of gloves.   

"All these are things which now happen. This is in the same category."   

The revelation caused uproar in Sri Lanka, with Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Kangadaran Mathivanan saying the matter could be taken up during next month's International Cricket Council (ICC) annual general meeting.   

"We are of the opinion that it was unethical for Gilchrist to use a squash ball to give unfair advantage," Mathivanan said. He said Sri Lanka could call on the ICC's cricket committee for stringent application of 'Law 42' on fair and unfair play to ensure only the approved protection equipment was used.   

Mathivanan said Sri Lanka Cricket would discuss the issue before deciding whether to raise it in London.   

Young said there was no question of Gilchrist seeking to take an unfair advantage.   

"He is a highly principled person. You're going to have to go a long way before you find a cricketer who has higher moral standards than Adam Gilchrist," he said.   

Batting coach Bob Meuleman, who introduced Gilchrist to the technique many years ago, said he laughed when he heard the Sri Lankans had raised objections.   

"Actually, it's just a little bid sad that some people think there's something sinister in it," he said. "There's not."   

Gilchrist's former West Australian team coach Wayne Clark said it was rubbish to think it gave Gilchrist an unfair advantage.   

"They're grasping at straws," he said.   

Senior Australian umpire Bob Parry, who stood in a domestic one-day match in Perth last season in which Gilchrist had a squash ball in his glove while scoring a century against Queensland, said he had no problem with it.   

"I don't see it being outside the spirit of the game. It's the same as wearing an extra inner inside a batting glove," he said.