'Moment of clarity' told Gilchrist it was time to go

Adelaide: Retiring Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist said Monday a "moment of clarity" - soon after a missed catch - indicated to him that his Test career was over.

Gilchrist said it came during the third day of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval, which ended in a draw. He returned to his hotel room at the close of play, spoke with his wife, Mel, and next morning told family, teammates and the cricket world that his 96-Test career had ended.

"It's just been such a great few days since I got that clarity in my mind," Gilchrist said.

"Leading into this Test match I wasn't trying to fool any press by saying I wanted to play on and on, maybe for another 12 months. I was considering maybe giving up one-day cricket after this summer and then maybe trying to get some more Test cricket in over the next 12 months.

"But the moment came and just gave me complete clarity in my mind and we just knew the time was right."

Gilchrist said the dropping of a catch from Indian batsman V.V.S. Laxman off Brett Lee during the third day's play crystallized his retirement decision.

"It was somewhere between the ball hitting my gloves and the ball hitting the ground on the Brett Lee-Laxman edge I think and that's not trying to sound melodramatic," he said.

"It's amazing how things happen.

"I don't think anyone in this room has missed the fact I've missed a few chances in this series. That was bugging me. I'm not sure why, I was working hard.

"Just that moment, that catch. I watched the replay quickly and I just moved slowly, I didn't move well and it made me realize in the ensuing 10, 15 minutes that that's it.

"I realized I didn't have to absolute desperation that you need to continue to maintain the standards. I was enjoying my cricket, enjoying that group, enjoying the changes in the team...but I didn't have that desperation to keep doing what it takes to maintain that level."

Gilchrist said leading Australia to a Test series win in India in 2004, in the absence of Ricky Ponting who was injured, was the outstanding achievement of his Test career.

"I just remember from the moment Ricky Ponting got hit on the thumb in Edgbaston in the Champions Trophy," he said.

"He doesn't show too much pain and he doesn't go off the field or not too often. And I just realized from that moment that in all likelihood I was going to be taking the reins or be offered the reins for that tour which had such a spectacular buildup to it."

Gilchrist says his innings of 149 in the final of last year's World Cup in India came as he coped with the loneliness that often came from separation from his young family.

"We all know how long that tournament was and I found it a very lonely, difficult time to get through and to pick myself up and do that, it was really, really special."

Gilchrist will retire from Test cricket with 5,570 runs from 96 matches, an average in excess of 47 and a world-record 416 wicketkeeping dismissals.