[Kool Guy]

In his last innings at his adopted home ground Adam Gilchrist whet the appetite of a partisan crowd with a determined half-century that took Australia to 2 for 122 by the half-way mark in game six in Perth. Against the backdrop of Sri Lanka's swipe at Australia's mental fortitude Gilchrist put his side on target for a formidable total despite another failure from his captain, who decided to bat first on a hard WACA surface.

The early initiative, brief though it was, went Sri Lanka's way as Matthew Hayden, Gilchrist's partner in many a showdown, failed to ignite. Hustled by extra pace and bounce from Lasith Malinga, he played a horrible pull that went right into midwicket's palms.

But one man came out with a clear agenda. The cheer for Gilchrist as he walked on to the field was palpable and if he was overcome by emotion he didn't show it. Taking guard as he has for the last decade, Gilchrist took a moment to survey the field set for him - two slips, three men on either side of the pitch inside the circle, a third man and deep fine leg - and was off the mark first ball with a tuck to square leg.

There wasn't a lot of sideways movement expected at the WACA and Malinga worked a good line to keep Gilchrist relatively quiet, but three times pitched wide and was hammered through the covers. Without any needless risks, Gilchrist ticked along at a fine strike-rate and kept the run-rate at near five an over. He received his first really loose delivery in the 11th over and duly flayed it through point to put 50 on the board. In the next over Farveez Maharoof was welcomed into the attack with a disdainful six over mid-on and a cleaner, straighter six followed as the 50-run stand with Ponting came up.

At this juncture Sri Lanka made a big strike, and a calculated one at that. Ricky Ponting had been out in the slip cordon on all four occasions this series and after edging one wide off the lone fielder he opened the face of the bat one too many times and presented Mahela Jayawardene, this time standing wider, with a simple catch. Before this match Jayawardene said Ponting was a man he would look to put added pressure on after his lean summer with the bat, and the Sri Lankan captain won this battle.

One man's continued battle contrasted with another's flourish. Gilchrist's strengths have always been hand-eye coordination and superb bat speed, and at 36 he showed both were still pretty sharp. Nuwan Kulasekara pitched marginally short of a length and craned his neck as the ball disappeared over midwicket, the six bringing up Gilchrist's half-century from 57 balls. He dominated another half-century stand, this time with a patient Michael Clarke, and in the process became the fourth batsman to aggregate 9000 runs while opening the batting.

Another hoick over midwicket was followed with the purest of straight drives for four and the WACA gathering felt something bigger brewing. Gilchrist only has one ODI hundred at the WACA, against Sri Lanka in 2005-06, and looked set for another at the twilight of a remarkable career.