Greatest Wicket Keepers of the Game

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Not really. One should concede less byes while keeping to someone like Glenn McGrath than while keeping to someone like Shaun Tait.

Everything can be proven by stats.

 

[Spikey]

unless the end result doesn't turn out to favour an australian player of the 00's

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

unless the end result doesn't turn out to favour an australian player of the 00's

Dunno. Kamran Akmal helped you guys win a few tests in the appropriate period. It all works.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Jack Russell for me is the best keeper I have seen, obviously Gilchrist will always get the nod for sides for his batting ability too. Healy was a better gloveman than Gilly.

As for others well I am too young to remember Knott, Taylor, Marsh and any of the well known names from the past so it is unfair to claim to know better than someone older.

 

[Daemon]

Who's the best in from the current crop? Jaya? Boucher's pretty gun but we don't see him keeping to quality spinners enough

 

[weldone]

Who's the best in from the current crop? Jaya? Boucher's pretty gun but we don't see him keeping to quality spinners enough

On present form, has to be between Jayawardena and Baugh.

 

[Camo999]

Must admit I don't really know much about keeping but of those I've seen, Jack Russell and Darren Berry were the most enjoyable to watch. Seemed to be the most dynamic in terms of controlling the game from behind the stumps - both often snaring the split second half-chances either up to the stumps to both pace and spin, or standing back.

Good shout re Carlton Baugh, I know he dropped one or two up to the stumps in the last test but aside from that he's been sensational lately too. Loved that stumping off the bowling of Chanderpaul he did this year.

Once he was established, Healy probably made the least mistakes though perhaps he didn't quite have the flair of these others. He seemed to go seasons without missing a ball let alone dropping a catch. From memory it was extremely rare for him to stand up to pace bowlers though. In fact I remember in the paper it was once mentioned he was considering standing back to Michael Bevan's spin (he didn't though).

Gilchrist was pretty good overall too though he seemed to have the odd shocking day which I never really saw happen to these other guys.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Best keeper is Alan Knott by a distance. Using the current fad of choosing the best batsman/keeper you could make a case for choosing Gilchrist ahead of him. To choose Rod Marsh is a nonsense in terms of keeping and batting.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Latif is the best I have seen. At the time I used to think Moin was crap because Latif was so good in comparison. After watching Dropmal, I came to realise how good Moin was.

 

[intcricket]

Farokh Engineer, Healy/Gilly, Kirmani.

 

[Migara]

Best keeper is Alan Knott by a distance. Using the current fad of choosing the best batsman/keeper you could make a case for choosing Gilchrist ahead of him. To choose Rod Marsh is a nonsense in terms of keeping and batting.

That is quite distant from the truth. Knott, Healy, Latif, Tallon all are verygood keepers with different skill sets. Latif arguably the best against spin.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

That is quite distant from the truth. Knott, Healy, Latif, Tallon all are verygood keepers with different skill sets. Latif arguably the best against spin.

Knott had every skill set. Latif nowhere near against anything.

 

[Debris]

Jack Blackham. Anyone who stands back from the stumps is a wimp.

 

[Howe_zat]

Let's spend some time talking up Don Tallon, seeing as I just picked him in the draft thread.

 

[Jarquis]

Mentioning Les Ames as he's seemingly always the forgotten man in every keeping discussion ever.

 

[Sanz]

Wicket keeper or wicket keeper/bat?

As in, are we judging them on keeping ability, or who we would pick if selecting a team?

Wicket Keepers who gave you better chance to win or who you would pick in your team.

 

[benchmark00]

Wicket Keepers who gave you better chance to win or who you would pick in your team.

Then Gilchrist, reasonably comfortably.

 

[L Trumper]

Lee Germon greatest of them all

/close thread

 

[Ikki]

How about we leave stats out of this one mate?

Just sayin'

Because that measure is mostly relient on how good your bowlers are, an aspect that keepers can't control.

Would be like judging a batsman on how good they are by adding up the time their batting partner stays with them before getting out.

A lot of the best teams had fine wicket-keepers. Why is Healy considered better than Gilchrist when both generally had fantastic attacks yet Gilchrist blows him out of the water when you consider catches/inning? It seems pretty arbitrary.

Is that fair or are we looking too much to technique and approach? I am thinking along the lines of Moneyball-esque approach. Are we really caring about the right things? I guess in a way you can't rely on statistics too much because there really aren't great ones for wk-ing.

But I think we can look to them more. I haven't looked at the traditionally accepted great wk-ers but what are their catching stats, what were their attacks, etc? I wonder if anyone has bothered with such a look.

 

[honestbharani]

A lot of the best teams had fine wicket-keepers. Why is Healy considered better than Gilchrist when both generally had fantastic attacks yet Gilchrist blows him out of the water when you consider catches/inning? It seems pretty arbitrary.

Is that fair or are we looking too much to technique and approach? I am thinking along the lines of Moneyball-esque approach. Are we really caring about the right things? I guess in a way you can't rely on statistics too much because there really aren't great ones for wk-ing.

But I think we can look to them more. I haven't looked at the traditionally accepted great wk-ers but what are their catching stats, what were their attacks, etc? I wonder if anyone has bothered with such a look.

cricket can never EVER be defined by stats alone. Or at least the stats that we have currently.