Wicket Keepers of Today

[Garson007]

Is it just me or is Baugh by far the best wicket keeper the international cricket community has? If he can create a wicket an innings, I don't see why he has to average higher.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Haven't seen much of Baugh, but he sounds good.

Prassana Jayawaradene is all class too. And while MSD seems about average as a keeper, he's probably just behind Prassana when it comes to keeping to spinners.

 

[Rohit Doshi]

I will say MSD as keeper is awesome but if you look at a complete package, MSD as keeper batsman in Test is pretty ordinary. Even Brad Haddin for the fact is better then him in batting.

Overall with batting and keeping, I would say Prassana is the best keeper at the moment the world of international cricket has. Followed by Baugh tbh as his batting looks impressive sometimes and then MSD.

Kamran Akmal is the best actually his keeping is fantastic

 

[AbhishekS]

Going by how Baugh kept today, he certainly could be the best wicket-keeper (not considering batting skills) in the coming years.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I honestly think Prassana is a bit over-rated, and that's as someone who likes sri lanka. He was clearly the most specialised wicket keeper about, being quite a poor batsman (although he's sorted this out and is a very useful bat now) but I don't necessarily think he is that special.

He maybe is still best in the world but there's hardly any real competition, most keepers right now are nothing more than functional.

IMO he isn't even the best in the sri lankan team, but sangakkara is under too much pressure to deliver with the bat to take on two roles.

Saying all that Baugh was considered pretty crappy 2 days ago, one good day doesn't qualify him to over-throw the rest of the world.

 

[Themer]

I'd say the Prior of today is up there as well. Completely different gloveman to when he was in that horrendous Sri Lanka tour.

Couldn't really give a sound judgement on other keepers as I've seen so little cricket of late.

 

[puddleduck]

Prior still isn't great when standing up but is very good at taking almost everything stood back. You only have to watch someone like Chris Read stood up to a 75mph swing bowler cutting the ball around to see the difference in class between a genuine wicket keeper and batsmen that can keep.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Problem is that every side is looking for a Gilchrist in their keeper. Well that can't happen. Gilli was a talent born once in a century. Wicket Keepers first and foremost job is to take catches and execute stumpings especially in test cricket. If he can bat well then thats just an added advantage.

 

[Garson007]

Wicket Keepers first and foremost job is to take catches and execute stumpings especially in test cricket. If he can bat well then thats just an added advantage.

Agreed. I'm getting increasingly frustrated with South Africa either having AB keep or Boucher. The one is just not good enough and the other one is a senior citizen. South Africa needs a proper wicket keeper.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Statistically, believe it or not, is Kamran Akmal!!

After Adam Gilchrist, he has the highest record of dismissals per innings, of all time!



http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283791.html

 

[sami ullah khan]

^You got to be kidding me Just add to that the ones that he missed and stat would be even more phenomenal.

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I remember reading a cricinfo article that mentioned Mr Akmal had missed about 35 chances off the bowling of Kaneria alone.

 

[Aoun13]

Lol! Kamran Akmal
He must have at least missed around 150+ chances so far in his career and you can imagine how good that figures could be if he tried to become a proper keeper rather a joker.
Another thing must be noted that it is the blessing of Pakistani bowlers who still have created so much chances that he still have so much dismissals even after missing so much chances.

 

[Owzat]

Wicket Keepers first and foremost job is to take catches and execute stumpings especially in test cricket. If he can bat well then thats just an added advantage.

I disagree, their first and foremost job is to stop the ball running straight down to the boundary for four byes every delivery! The idea they are purely their to catch and stump is popular but I think a bit misguided. Are fielders there to catch and run out? Nope, they are there to field the ball regardless if it is in the air or on the ground and return it. If it results in a dismissal then that is a massive bonus, the only fielders who are there specifically to catch are slip fielders and close in catchers because their ability to stop the ball will be negated by their proximity and closeness.



There was a time a while back that most top sides keepers were good batsmen, a move away from picking the best keepers. I agree with this move, adding solidity to the batting line-up. That isn't to say you have an 'iron gloves' keeper, but I think England have looked a way better side when Stewart, Prior and (in form) Jones were keepers scoring runs. Jones was much derided, but played a big part in winning the Ashes for the first time. Read is/was aesthetically pleasing, but didn't score the weight of runs needed by your number seven. If you can afford to carry a keeper any lower in the order then I doubt it would make a jot of difference who it is, the rest of the side would have to be pretty strong.

Ironically we can probably afford to play a slightly weaker batting keeper with only four bowlers in the side, but the added range we get from Prior is too much to change. And for me a batsman keeper can work and improve his keeping ability to a more acceptable level easier than a keeper batsman can add runs to his batting

 

[sami ullah khan]

^Its a given that Keepers are supposed not to let any ball go through them.

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Statistically, believe it or not, is Kamran Akmal!!

After Adam Gilchrist, he has the highest record of dismissals per innings, of all time!



Records | Test matches | Wicketkeeping records | Most dismissals in career | ESPN Cricinfo

Hah, my bad. On closer analysis, he's third.

Of all the wicket-keepers in Test history who have been part of at least 50 dismissals, Courtney Browne leads the table with about 2.2 dismissals per innings. Followed by Gilchrist, who has 2.18, and then Akmal (), who has 2.08.