When Adam Gilchrist made scores of 0, 0, 1 and 1 against India in 2000-01, the word went out that his Achilles' heel had been found. Gilchrist could murder the quicks, but take the pace off the ball and he didn't know what to do. And yet on the evidence of this series so far, Gilchrist likes his bowlers served up slow, left-arm and South African. In the first Test at Johannesburg, Nicky Boje disappeared to all parts - this time it was Paul Adams' turn. Orthodox or unorthodox, Gilchrist has simply destroyed them both, hammering 134 off only 92 balls - a rate of almost nine runs per over. He absolutely slaughtered Adams today, smashing 76 runs off 44 balls - including 36 off two overs after tea - a rate of 10.36 per over. And it's not as if Adams bowled badly: against everyone else, Adams took 4 for 25 off 12.4 overs; against Gilchrist it was 0 for 76 off 7.2.

Our graph shows where Gilchrist has scored his runs off Boje and Adams in these two Tests, with his preference for the smite over midwicket clear to see. In fact Gilchrist has scored 69% of his runs off Adams and Boje on the on side, and 100 of those 134 runs (75%) have come in boundaries.

Boundaries were a feature of Gilchrist's, and Australia's, display today. He thrashed 100 of his 138 in boundaries (72%), while Australia as a unit managed a rate of 68% (260 runs out of 382). Even in the Johannesburg massacre, they couldn't match that - Gilchrist's was 61% (124 out of 204) and Australia 60% (390 out of 652).

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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