Adam Gilchrist

Melbourne: The hectic international calendar has left Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist wondering how long he can continue playing at the highest level.

With Australia about to embark on their most hectic period — incorporating 23 Tests, a Champions Trophy and numerous other limited-over series before the end of 2008 — Gilchrist said he was uncertain whether he would be playing next season.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be back here next year, but with the way I feel at the moment the intention is to try and get right through,” he said at a luncheon ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka starting in Brisbane on Thursday.

The Australia vice-captain said he had pondered over retirement during last season’s Ashes campaign, then opted to play on after a revitalising World Cup campaign and a refreshing three-month off-season.

“I wondered whether last summer might be my last one,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

“I just thought I would go along and enjoy it, and then the World Cup came and that was a real shot of adrenaline. We have had two good off-seasons the last two winters, and over the next three or four years cricketers will not see that kind of time off. It was very timely for me,” the left-hander said.

Gilchrist will turn 36 between the Brisbane and Hobart Tests against the Lankans, and provided he maintains his streak of consecutive matches, will equal Rodney Marsh’s mark of 96 Test appearances by the end of this summer.

Only Ian Healy, with 119, has played more Tests among Australian glovesman.

Along with Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting, Gilchrist forms the veteran core of the Australian Test side this season following the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer.

With Stuart MacGill, Mitchell Johnson and Phil Jaques likely to fill the positions of the departed trio, Gilchrist admitted the reality of Australia’s generation-change was beginning to sink in.