Gillespie, who “still pinches himself” when remembering the “surreal” experience, batted out 425 deliveries in Australia’s win against Bangladesh in the 2006 Chittagong Test, putting on a 320-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Michael Hussey.

Speaking on the Instagram Live show Homerun with AV, Gillespie recalled how he trusted himself to “play the ball on merit”, looking to score runs off deliveries that weren’t directed towards his stumps. A slump of concentration in his 170s threatened to throw it all away, but Hussey’s calming influence pushed Gillespie to eventually cross the 200-run milestone.

Ironically, Hussey himself fell 18 short of a double hundred, a milestone he never reached in his 79-Test career.

“He was very early in his Test career,” Gillespie said. “He sort of nursed me through. He’s obviously been there, done that in first-class cricket. It was a wonderful experience. Great way to sign off my career, I suppose.”