CATEGORY:SPORTS(CRICKET) ---------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA SATURDAY May 5,2007 CRICKET fans on the sub-continent have questioned Adam Gilchrist's match-winning innings in the World Cup final because he had a squash ball in his batting glove. Gilchrist belted 149 off just 103 balls to rip the rain-shortened final away from Sri Lanka but cricket bloggers in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India have now asked whether the Australian wicketkeeper's innings was "legal". After the match, Gilchrist said he had "something" in his left glove during his innings and when he reached his century he repeatedly pointed to his left batting glove with his right hand. "I had a little message, to wave to someone at home in Australia about something in my glove," Gilchrist told the post-match media conference. He then confirmed the message was for his batting coach and former West Australia player Bob Meuleman who, Gilchrist said, had advised him to carry a squash ball in his left, bottom hand to help him with his grip. "His (Meuleman's) last words to me before I left the indoor training centre where I train with him in Perth were, 'If you are going to use it (squash ball), make sure when you score a hundred in the final you show me and prove to me you got it in there'. I had stayed true to that." Some cricket fans are now asking whether, if Dennis Lilee's aluminium bat, Ricky Ponting's graphite-coated bat and Hanie Cronje's earpiece were declared illegal, Gilchrist's squash ball should be deemed an illegal artificial aid to batting. "Two questions arise," wrote one blogger. "If using a squash ball isn't ok as per the laws of the game, is his innings legal and does it count? And if it doesn't count, can Australia claim to have won a hopelessly one-sided and farcical victory?" Reprinted from Adelaidenow.com