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Best Gloveman (purely in keeping alone)
- Thread starter Zinzan
- Start date
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Now? Currently playing international cricket? Or ever, playing any cricket?
Probably the least error-prone according to obvervations I've made of late (and I haven't watched every ball of every Test or come remotely close) is Prasanna Jayawardene. Denesh Ramdin has been borderline good this series, but he's made a couple of errors too many on surfaces pretty nice for keeping on. Nonetheless, he's been obviously several classes above the inept Matthew Prior. Tim Ambrose actually isn't too bad as a wicketkeeper even though his batting has mostly been a letdown so far, but considering the relative decency of his wicketkeeping it's amazing how many balls he takes high up in the hands (ie, nearly where hand joins wrist) rather than allowing it to drop into the palms.
Kamran Akmal is obviously terrible; Brendon McCullum is a bit like Ramdin, looks really good most of the time but has the odd inexplicable fumble; Mahendra Dhoni is getting better all the time but will always be a bit manufactured meaning that he can do the straightforward stuff really well but always comes up a bit short if it gets really tough (which is not often); Haddin hasn't done much wrong yet.
However, even Jayawardene I've seen make a couple of relatively straightforward errors in the 4 or 5 Tests I've watched him in. I honestly think Sangakkara is quite possibly still a better wicketkeeper; he just seems to go from excellent to beyond-superlative batsman when not keeping wicket.
Probably the least error-prone according to obvervations I've made of late (and I haven't watched every ball of every Test or come remotely close) is Prasanna Jayawardene. Denesh Ramdin has been borderline good this series, but he's made a couple of errors too many on surfaces pretty nice for keeping on. Nonetheless, he's been obviously several classes above the inept Matthew Prior. Tim Ambrose actually isn't too bad as a wicketkeeper even though his batting has mostly been a letdown so far, but considering the relative decency of his wicketkeeping it's amazing how many balls he takes high up in the hands (ie, nearly where hand joins wrist) rather than allowing it to drop into the palms.
Kamran Akmal is obviously terrible; Brendon McCullum is a bit like Ramdin, looks really good most of the time but has the odd inexplicable fumble; Mahendra Dhoni is getting better all the time but will always be a bit manufactured meaning that he can do the straightforward stuff really well but always comes up a bit short if it gets really tough (which is not often); Haddin hasn't done much wrong yet.
However, even Jayawardene I've seen make a couple of relatively straightforward errors in the 4 or 5 Tests I've watched him in. I honestly think Sangakkara is quite possibly still a better wicketkeeper; he just seems to go from excellent to beyond-superlative batsman when not keeping wicket.
Zinzan
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Currently & playing International cricket - I'm sure I mentioned "currently"
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Nope:
BTW I think we had this debate a little while back, though it may have been a tangent in a different thread rather than a specific dedicated one.
chaminda_00
Hall of Fame Member
Pretty close between Jayawardene, Boucher and Taibu for mine. McCullum and Dhoni are improving rapidly but are still a little bit behind. Rahim looks quite good, but needs a bit more experience to improve his consistency. Would go Boucher on consistency week in week out. Jayawardene still makes the odd error against Mendis and Murali. Though I reckon Boucher would too.
No real stand outs really. The sad thing is that most domestic keepers get picked on batting alone, so there not always great keepers below the Test sides. Dilshan for example would be out 3rd best keeper in SL, purely on keeping.
No real stand outs really. The sad thing is that most domestic keepers get picked on batting alone, so there not always great keepers below the Test sides. Dilshan for example would be out 3rd best keeper in SL, purely on keeping.
Zinzan
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Cheers for that
Zinzan
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Title of the poll is "Forgetting about batting, who is currently the best Wicket Keeper in the world?"
James
Cricket Web Owner
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Poll wasn't up by the time I made that post TBH.
Zinzan
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No worries, I could have made in clearer in the post title tbf
Noble One
International Vice-Captain
Voted Prasanna Jayawardene. The standard of wicketkeeping skills worldwide is quite low right now. Jayawardene is the best of the international bunch, doesn't stuff up the basics too often. Has kept well from the tricky Sri Lankan surfaces to the more bouncy Australian surfaces. Jayawardene is hardly brilliant, just above average.
Of all the cricketers currently playing. Well Chris Read was one of the better "pure" keepers of the past decade. Shame his skills have been wasted on the ICL.
Of all the cricketers currently playing. Well Chris Read was one of the better "pure" keepers of the past decade. Shame his skills have been wasted on the ICL.
chaminda_00
Hall of Fame Member
Chris Read doesn't play in ICL anymore. It just England don't want to select him.
Noble One
International Vice-Captain
Thanks. Was more implying that in recent years the only way to view Read on a slightly international level was through some mediocre 20/20 competition.
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Really, Read's left the ICL? Hadn't heard that.
I wonder if it's too late to see him playing ODIs again then. Don't want him in Tests TBH, his batting isn't good enough and though the likes of Ambrose and Foster aren't quite as good with the gloves, their batting's undoubtedly better.
I wonder if it's too late to see him playing ODIs again then. Don't want him in Tests TBH, his batting isn't good enough and though the likes of Ambrose and Foster aren't quite as good with the gloves, their batting's undoubtedly better.
chaminda_00
Hall of Fame Member
Only played the first season, hasn't been back since. They signed keepers like Parore to replace him.
masterblaster
International Captain
Dhoni is so underrated here for his wicket keeping. He's an outstanding wicket keeper now and has improved leaps and bounds. Prior, Ramdin and Akmal are average while McCullum and Dhoni are quite sharp.
If the poll was around 6 or 7 years ago, I would've hands down said Mark Boucher, but he's going to be finishing up his career soon and he's not as good as he once was. Prasanna Jayawardene is a pretty solid wicket keeper, so for me it would be out of him or MS Dhoni.
If the poll was around 6 or 7 years ago, I would've hands down said Mark Boucher, but he's going to be finishing up his career soon and he's not as good as he once was. Prasanna Jayawardene is a pretty solid wicket keeper, so for me it would be out of him or MS Dhoni.
Zinzan
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Perhaps I'm being a little one-eyed here in voting for my countryman McCullum, but I haven't seen much of Jayawardene & don't really rate the others around. McCullum very rarely seems to make mistakes these days & quite often pulls-off stunning athletic catchers