Adam Gilchrist and the squash-ball trick

It was April 28, Bridgetown, and Gilchrist’s swashbuckling 149 off 104 balls was instrumental in taking Australia to 281/4. Sri Lanka, chasing a revised target, finished on 215/8 to go down by 53 runs.

For those watching, Gilchrist raising his left hand and showing off his glove, which had a prominent lump in the middle, was confusing. What is he on about? It emerged later, that he had stuck a squash ball into the glove.

“I’d been using this little device on the advice of a batting coach back in Perth. Often, he’d get me to put this squash ball in my bottom hand, and basically, it’s about putting the glove on, and my coach told me, ‘Try not to grip the bat too much with those last two, maybe three, fingers’,” Gilchrist said in an interview with ICC.

Sure, but that’s not the mystery – how exactly did it help?

Watch the video below to find out.