Langer lauds Gilchrist

Justin Langer is full of praise for retiring Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist © Getty Images

Former Australia opener Justin Langer has hailed Adam Gilchrist as the “all-round package” after the wicketkeeper announced his impending retirement from the game on Saturday.

Gilchrist will quit all forms of cricket at the end of the upcoming one-day series with India and Sri Lanka, while the current Test against India in Adelaide will be his last in the five-day arena.

"He was a leader, he captained Australia and he was an aggressive six-hitting batsman that averaged almost 50 in Test cricket," said Langer, who teamed with Gilchrist for a famous 238-run partnership against Pakistan in 1999 that led to an improbable Test win.

"He was voted the (best) player...in one-day internationals for Australia and he had an uncanny knack of being able to be a leader and a captain or vice-captain, but also be one of the boys as well and not many blokes have the ability to do that.

"He was the all-round package, he is the all-round package and it's going to be sad to see him leave."

Gilchrist will be remembered as an accomplished gloveman - he currently boasts a world-record 414 Test dismissals in 96 Test appearances - but Langer believes it was Gilchrist's ability with the willow that set him apart from his peers.

"I still maintain he was the only batsman that I've ever really played with who can walk out from ball one and hit the ball in the middle of the bat," Langer said.

"He did it when he was 21 or 22 or however old he was when he came to Perth (from New South Wales in 1992) and it's the same in Test cricket - he just took to it.

"That second Test match (against Pakistan in 1999), to have an incredible impact like he did, probably just sums up his freakish ability."