Best 5 Wicketkeeper Batsman Of Modern Era

[flibbertyjibber]

Agree with everything except the bolded word. England from 1995 to 2005 didn't have even one excellent batsman.

Gooch was very good overall, and excellent in the 90s (retired before 1995 IIRC). Pietersen came in around 2005 IIRC. Vaughan was good. Atherton was better than his average suggests, but way overrated. Stewart was good too, but nowhere near excellent. But yeah, he was better than Prior for sure.

Mr Thorpe waves at you.

 

[weldone]

Mr Thorpe waves at you.

was good, wasn't excellent IMO

 

[marc71178]

Nah, Stewart ahead of Prior atm (at least in terms of batting). Faced stiffer competition, and his average suffers due to playing way past his prime. Was an excellent batsman the majority of the time, ahead of Prior at least for now.

Would agree (as a batsman) if he wasn't keeping, but for the majority of his career his batting when keeping was on a par with that of Jack Russell and it was only towards the end that he got his average as a keeper over that of Russell.

Had he played as a specialist bat I think he would've been been a world class opener (and we'd have had the benefit of a world class keeper as well)

 

[MW1304]

Still don't really understand this thread. If its best wicketkeeper-batsmen then surely batting and keeping have to have close to equal bearing?

Otherwise any numpty who's thrown on the gloves could make this list.

 

[weldone]

Still don't really understand this thread. If its best wicketkeeper-batsmen then surely batting and keeping have to have close to equal bearing?

I'm wondering the same. The thread title mentions best wicketkeeper-batsman, and then the OP says 'don't consider their wicket keeping'.

It's like creating a new 'best allrounder' thread, and telling people not to consider batting but to decide the best allrounder on the basis of bowling alone.

 

[sumantra]

Still don't really understand this thread. If its best wicketkeeper-batsmen then surely batting and keeping have to have close to equal bearing?

Otherwise any numpty who's thrown on the gloves could make this list.

yes, fair enough...that is why the name of rahul dravid came in and which is justified...u know, when one can possibly say that Knott was a better keeper than, say, Gilly...but Gilly was a better batsman...i just wanted to see what the list will be if u r only taking their batting abilities into consideration...should have mentioned something like...among those who played as a keeper for at least 30 tests or so for their respective countries...

 

[sumantra]

Likewise, I don't know when the "modern" era is meant to start, but PJ Dujon is worth a shout too.

yeah, i mentioned 1990 onwards...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Still don't really understand this thread. If its best wicketkeeper-batsmen then surely batting and keeping have to have close to equal bearing?

Otherwise any numpty who's thrown on the gloves could make this list.

Would that it were so. Keeping skills seem to come a pretty poor second to batting when selectors chose test sides now. The two best pure keepers I've seen in the last three-four years are James Foster and Graham Manou, neither of whom is a rabbit of anything like, but equally one suspects both would be a position too high at #7 in tests.

If keeping was given equal weighting both, as packages, might come close to the incumbants, but even the most one-eyed Essex or SA fan doesn't push either's cart that hard.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

yeah, i mentioned 1990 onwards...

If that's the case, I'd go:

1) Adam Gilchrist
2) Andy Flower
3) Alec Stewart
4) Kumar Sangakkara
5) Mark Boucher

IMHO, on pure batting skills in test matches, Flower and Stewart and comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack. Faced better attacks and were technically and temperamentally better equipped than the others. Of course, playing as pure batsmen for a part of their careers has been taken into account for these ratings.

 

[robelinda]

yeah, i mentioned 1990 onwards...

Dujon was still in the WI team in the 1990's.

 

[sumantra]

Dujon was still in the WI team in the 1990's.

yes, technically so...but he played bulk of cricket before 1990 i think...

 

[ImpatientLime]

Isn't there a massive gulf between Stewart's averages when and when not keeping? A jump from the low 30s to the high 40s if I recall correctly.

 

[pskov]

Isn't there a massive gulf between Stewart's averages when and when not keeping? A jump from the low 30s to the high 40s if I recall correctly.

Yep.

Keeping: 82 tests, 4540 runs, 34.92 ave, 6 hundreds

Not Keeping: 51 tests, 3923 runs, 46.70 ave, 9 hundreds

If you remove his keeping stats then he had the 9th highest batting average of all test players to score 1000 runs or more in the 1990s.

 

[Daemon]

Trescothick

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Trescothick

That bloke Rahul Sharad Dravid is an acceptable test batsman too.

 

[smash84]

Khatmal

 

[OMM!]

Is Matt Prior the most underrated Test cricketer of all time?

He is 3rd behind Flower and Gilchrist in the all-time keeper batting average rankings.

And yet many don't even have him in their top 5! Some have Mark Boucher ahead of him!??!!

Prior is the best post Gilchrist and in 50 years people will look back at him as an all-time great, when they just look at statistics and facts! Yet this era hardly notices him!

 

[stephen]

It's probably because Prior hasn't had a long career yet.

 

[OMM!]

47 Tests isn't a long career?!!

 

[sumantra]

47 Tests isn't a long career?!!

long enough i would say, considering Andy Flower played not more than 63...