"I don't know about the Indians, but we want to keep playing the way we have, in what we think is the right manner, for a long, long while," the Australian vice-captain said at the WACA when asked if the seniors from the two teams shouldn't have got together to sort out the mess that Sydney had been.

"We will continue to strive to keep doing that. We will strive to be the best at everything we do. That's why we've been able to dominate world cricket for so long. We will continue to strive to get more things right than we get wrong. Occasionally, there'll be the odd little thing that we don't get right.

"We are all big boys and we can all get on with it. They let off their steam after the game and we let off our steam," he added of the words said and written after Sydney. "Let's get on with the next game. I will continue to play cricket in the manner that I've played in my whole career, and so will our team."

Asked for his reaction to Anil Kumble's comment that only one team played in the spirit of the game in Sydney, the wicket-keeper replied tactfully, "Anil is a fine man, he looks a fine leader of that team. A proud man looking to give that team a great deal of direction. I rang him up when he got his 500th Test wicket and wished him because that's how highly we rate and regard him. He's entitled to his opinion. I'm not going to tell him what he can or cannot say, he's a more experienced Test cricketer than me. And he's a good man."

It will also be Gilchrist's 94th straight Test, another world record as he goes past Rahul Dravid's 93 on the trot. "It's nice," he remarked. "Justin Langer always said the greatest characteristic of a true champion is longevity -- because they've been there long enough to show their skills in a variety of conditions. It's a big thrill, a big honour."