Gilchrist doubts Super Series status

Adam Gilchrist believes Test matches should be country versus country affairs and has questioned the ICC's decision to award the Super Series games official international status. Gilchrist said the three one-day games and the six-day Test formed a "wonderful" series, but thought it was wrong for the matches to count in players' records when those of World Series Cricket in the 1970s missed out.

"I don't feel so strongly that it's putting me off," Gilchrist said in The Australian. "It's a very exciting concept and will be a terrific showpiece event for world cricket. It's going to be absolute, full-on cricket, but if it needs official status to get that, I'm not sure. I believe that Test-match status is country versus country."

Gilchrist said it was important to remember where World Series Cricket took the game. "We've got one-dayers, the players got a bit of a voice, the game's more professional," he said. "It became a real entertainment industry, which is what it is now. Yet still those records are not recognised when an event like this is, even though this is a wonderful event."

The paper reported Dennis Lillee as one of the big losers from the unofficial world contests. Lillee was credited with 355 Test wickets from 70 matches, but he claimed another 24 victims against the Rest of the World in 1971-72 and 79 in World Series Cricket, taking his overall tally to 458.

Australia open the Super Series with the first ODI on Wednesday and Gilchrist said interest in the series was "amazing" following the Ashes. "In the two weeks I've been home the general feeling from the public has been that it was just so positive for cricket," he said. "Put the result aside, people who usually don't watch cricket were up until 3am glued to their television sets."

Gilchrist said he had never faced an attack that bowled so well as a pack. "There was no let-up," he said. "And again, it's going to be like that over the next two weeks."