Bangladesh v Australia, 2nd Test, Chittagong, 3rd day

Dizzy Gillespie delighted with century

Cricinfo staff

April 19, 2006

Gillespie: 'The bowlers, we all love talking about our batting, and I've got a few bragging rights there now' © Getty Images

Jason Gillespie has become the first Australian nightwatchman to score a century in almost 30 years and was in a state of shock after reaching the landmark.

"I never expected it, never," Gillespie told AAP. "Not in my wildest dreams, so it's pretty surreal, pretty bizarre actually. I came off and there was [television commentators] Wasim Akram and Harsha [Bhogle] having a chat about my batting, and they had my wagon wheel up. That was very weird."

Gillespie punched Abdur Razzak through cover for four to reach his century. His previous best score at any level was 90 playing E grade for Adelaide in 1992-1993. "I've not even got a hundred in the backyard," he said. "So it's a bit surreal at the moment. I wasn't nervous because I never expected to get in that position. I was loving it."

He was delighted that he had the highest score among his bowling team-mates. "Someone mentioned it yesterday and I thought they were on drugs," he said. "I looked up at the dressing-room as soon as I passed [Glenn] McGrath's score, 61. He's been giving me grief about that for a while now so I was very relieved to pass that.

"Then I had Merv [Hughes], he was up there and he had 70-odd, and Flemo [Damien Fleming] 70-odd and Pistol [Paul Reiffel] so ticked them all off. I managed to even tick off Warney [Shane Warne] today, too, which was cool. The bowlers, we all love talking about our batting, and I've got a few bragging rights there now."

Gillespie and Michael Hussey, who is on 93, added 154 runs for the third wicket before rain washed out the last session's play on the third day. However, Gillespie admitted that it was his fault that Ricky Ponting was run out on 52. "He [Ponting] called me through and I was in my own little fog ... I felt pretty ordinary for a while, I still do but these things happen in cricket," said Gillespie. "It was my fault. I thought 'Shit I better do alright here'. I felt shithouse."

So far, Gillespie has eight wickets in the series to go with his hundred but said that he wasn't thinking about the Ashes later this year. "There are guys coming back. You know you've got Taity [Shaun Tait], Kasper [Michael Kasprowicz], Pigeon [Glenn McGrath] to all come back, so I'll probably slide down the greasy pole again and bide my time. I haven't really thought about it."

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Bangladesh v Australia, 2nd Test, Chittagong

Matches

Bangladesh v Australia at Chittagong (CDS)

Players/Umpires

Jason Gillespie

Series/Tournaments

Australia tour of Bangladesh

Teams

Australia