Adam Gilchrist has questioned whether England have made the right decision by appointing fellow all-rounder Andrew Flintoff as their Ashes captain.
Australia’s phenomenal wicketkeeper-batsman has personal experience of trying to lead a side in a major series while also maintaining the high standards in his other two disciplines.
Gilchrist successfully led Australia to their first Test series win in India for 35 years in 2004-05, leading the side in the first three matches while captain Ricky Ponting was sidelined with a broken thumb.
But he admitted today that the experience left him drained and predicted Flintoff would suffer a similar situation when he leads England into the five-Test Ashes series.
"It’s a big workload, there’s no doubt about that - I was exhausted by the end of it," said Gilchrist, who scored a century in the first Test of that India series but failed to reach 50 after that in the three matches as captain.
"Flintoff strikes me as being the kind of guy who knows how to prepare himself for his own game and I’m sure he will be able to do that and be able to think about the team as he’s doing that.
"It will be a lot of work and I’m not going to pass judgement on whether he can or can’t do it but from my own experience I was pretty exhausted by the end of it.
"It’s a mental thing which then becomes a physical strain. It’s tough work. I was pretty exhausted by the end of that series. Every little issue that confronts the team or the team management, you’re alerted to and you’re aware of and you’re part of all the decision-making."
Gilchrist’s views are particularly pertinent as the debate rages about whether Flintoff or Andrew Strauss, who lost out narrowly in the race to be captain, should lead the side in such an important series.
England are expected to play five mainstream bowlers in the opening Test at The Gabba starting on Thursday to ease the workload on their talismanic all-rounder.
But Gilchrist admitted that although the added responsibility may reduce Flintoff’s effectiveness, leading the side may also inspire him over the coming weeks.
"There’s always potential for him to get weighed down, but there is also the potential for a captain to get on a roll," admitted Gilchrist.
"Flintoff is proven as an inspirational character for the team and we don’t know which way it’s going to go. To take on the captaincy on any tour no matter what you do is hard but when that’s the third string to your bow it’s really hard.
"I enjoyed it, I loved it and it was a really good challenge. One of the reasons I really enjoyed it was that I always knew I was handing it back.
"I knew at the back of my mind I was always a caretaker so I could really throw myself at it. If that would have been the case permanently I would probably have found it a little bit too much."
Fellow all-rounder Shane Watson still remains in contention for Australia’s first Test line-up having bowled around three overs in today’s net session at around 70% capacity.
Watson injured his right hamstring last week and was being sent for a further scan today before reporting for training with the rest of the squad at The Gabba tomorrow.
* With the First Test starting this week, how do you think England will do? Will it be all over by Christmas, or can they retain the Ashes? Let us know your opinion by email, messageboard or send a web letter to the editor
