Gilchrist to join Warne in Lord\'s bicentenary match

Former Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist Adam Gilchrist will be behind the stumps to fellow Australia great Shane Warne one more time after his involvement in the Lord's bicentenary match was confirmed on Tuesday. Gilchrist will be a member of the Rest of the World team captained by Warne that will play Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of Lord's, in a one-day match on July 5 celebrating the London ground's 200th anniversary.
"I’m privileged to have been asked to play in this match on such an exciting occasion," Gilchrist said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"Lord’s is a wonderful place to play cricket and I’m really looking forward to helping celebrate its bicentenary in this match.
"There are going to be a lot of familiar faces around and it’ll be a lot of fun to play alongside a couple of old teammates too."
Meanwhile former Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait and New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori have also been added to the line-up of leading players taking part.
India hero Sachin Tendulkar will captain a MCC side that also includes his long-time international colleague and Rahul Dravid.
Their fellow India batsman Yuvraj Singh, is also set to play in the fixture at the 'home of cricket' as is West Indies' mainstay Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The 42-year-old Gilchrist, who played two Tests and six One Day Internationals at Lord’s, averaged over 40 at the ground during a career in which he took over 900 dismissals in 396 international matches.
Left-arm spinner Vettori secured a coveted place on the Lord’s honours board by taking five for 69 against England in a Test in 2008. He also holds the record for the best ODI figures at Lord’s, with five for 30 against West Indies in 2004.
MCC president and former England captain Mike Gatting said: "The teams for this match are really taking shape now, and everyone both inside and outside MCC is really looking forward to Saturday 5th July.
"The prospect of watching Gilchrist keeping to Warne again is one that’s sure to whet the appetite of any cricket fan, and the talent on show at this match will be fitting of the occasion.”
"It’s testament to the standing MCC has around the cricketing world that players like Adam, Shaun and Daniel want to come and celebrate the bicentenary of the current Lord’s Ground with the club, and there are more big names to come.”
As a player, top-order batsman Gatting was involved in a similar, star-studded, match in 1987 when he scored 179 for MCC against the Rest of the World in a five-day fixture marking the 200th anniversary of the club.
MCC, founded in 1787, moved to its present site in the north-west London suburb of St John's Wood in 1814, with the ground owned by entrepreneur Thomas Lord -- hence its name.
Although it is more than 40 years since MCC ceased to run English cricket, it retains worldwide responsibility for the game's 'Laws', as cricket's rules are known.
Source: AFP