Meet the ICC Hall of Famers: Adam Gilchrist

[TheJediBrah]

Ames was not great WK is a myth Build around his Batting ability. Victim of his own success. I think.
Wisden too suggests the same

Yeah I don't think this is right. He was undoubtedly a very good keeper, it's not like he was Andy Flower-standard, but you're implying that he was the level of a Knott or Healy with the gloves which from all accounts was not the case.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

I

If you mean he’s inadvertently responsible for lowering wicket keeping standards across the board, then yes. Not his fault, but his quality of keeping and volume of runs has become an obsession with selectors trying to find another once in a generation cricketer.

Its okay to see one extra dropped catch per match than watch these mediocrities try to use a bat.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

Every wicketkeeper that can bat is somehow bad at keeping.
Similar to how every ugly hollywood actor is great at acting.

As I have always said, Imagine playing cricket for 25 years and the only thing you know is to catch, and that too with gloves on .

 

[capt_Luffy]

All I can say is I can't see me choosing Ian Healy in my team to keep ahead of de Villiers..... Also, BJ Watling, MS Dhoni, Mohammad Rizwan, Quinton de Kock, Matt Prior and now Rishabh Pant; i.e, the players succeeding Gilly, are all good keepers. Probably not the greatest, but definitely packs a much higher overall value than most keeps averaging low 20s.

 

[reyrey]

Easy to forget that peak Gilly (first half of his career) was averaging 60. Shame he didn't make his debut earlier.

 

[bagapath]

Gilly is one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Top 25 in my books.
Also one of the top wicket keeping allrounders - a list that will include Healy / Dujon.
Nothing wrong in respecting a top wicket keeper who averaged in high 20s and low 30s.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

All I can say is I can't see me choosing Ian Healy in my team to keep ahead of de Villiers..... Also, BJ Watling, MS Dhoni, Mohammad Rizwan, Quinton de Kock, Matt Prior and now Rishabh Pant; i.e, the players succeeding Gilly, are all good keepers. Probably not the greatest, but definitely packs a much higher overall value than most keeps averaging low 20s.

According to me its not just about what they averaged.
Can the likes of Healy, Bari, Dujon ever play a counterattacking knock like Liton did vs Pakistan, its more about batting talent and potential.

At their best the likes of Liton, Kock, Rizwan, Pant can win you matches single-handedly with their bat, a quality which was missing from wicket keepers prior to Gilly.

It is the same reason why I am totally against the idea of England playing Foakes in their eleven, that guy is from the same species of keepers who were just journeymen with the bat and again its not about average, he just doesn’t have the batting talent to win matches.

I remember how people here were advocating from him but England realised that he isn’t international standard and put him back to where he belonged i.e domestic cricket.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

Les Ames should be considered a revolutionary more so than Gilchrist considering he had more than 100 first class hundreds while other keepers at that time were averaging a meagre 15-20.

 

[capt_Luffy]

According to me its not just about what they averaged.
Can the likes of Healy, Bari, Dujon ever play a counterattacking knock like Liton did vs Pakistan, its more about batting talent and potential.

At their best the likes of Liton, Kock, Rizwan, Pant can win you matches single-handedly with their bat, a quality which was missing from wicket keepers prior to Gilly.

It is the same reason why I am totally against the idea of England playing Foakes in their eleven, that guy is from the same species of keepers who were just journeymen with the bat and again its not about average, he just doesn’t have the batting talent to win matches.

I remember how people here were advocating from him but England realised that he isn’t international standard and put him back to where he belonged i.e domestic cricket.

I would say in defence of Foakes though, he probably would had done much better in an older era where an average of 30 was admissible and Smith has performed well till now; but I will prefer him to keep over Bairstow and definitely Buttler. Moreover, his partnership with Pope was crucial for England winning the 1st Test in India.

 

[Daemon]

Gilly is one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Top 25 in my books.

wot

 

[kyear2]

All I can say is I can't see me choosing Ian Healy in my team to keep ahead of de Villiers..... Also, BJ Watling, MS Dhoni, Mohammad Rizwan, Quinton de Kock, Matt Prior and now Rishabh Pant; i.e, the players succeeding Gilly, are all good keepers. Probably not the greatest, but definitely packs a much higher overall value than most keeps averaging low 20s.

Should be somewhat of the ideal mix between gloveman and batsman, which is which is why Gilly has no comp. Can't just say the best batsman wins regardless, Gilly was a legit really good wicketkeeper, and his skills were routinely tested by Warne and McGill.

 

[kyear2]

According to me its not just about what they averaged.
Can the likes of Healy, Bari, Dujon ever play a counterattacking knock like Liton did vs Pakistan, its more about batting talent and potential.

At their best the likes of Liton, Kock, Rizwan, Pant can win you matches single-handedly with their bat, a quality which was missing from wicket keepers prior to Gilly.

It is the same reason why I am totally against the idea of England playing Foakes in their eleven, that guy is from the same species of keepers who were just journeymen with the bat and again its not about average, he just doesn’t have the batting talent to win matches.

I remember how people here were advocating from him but England realised that he isn’t international standard and put him back to where he belonged i.e domestic cricket.

Healy had a few decent knocks for Oz and Dujon had a couple match winning knocks for us as well.

Guys like Ames and Walcott did somewhat set the template for keepers who could wield the willow. Engineer was pretty decent ad well and according to @JBMAC (if memory serves correct) they were all ahead of the contemporary guys.

 

[TheJediBrah]

According to me its not just about what they averaged.
Can the likes of Healy, Bari, Dujon ever play a counterattacking knock like Liton did vs Pakistan, its more about batting talent and potential.

At their best the likes of Liton, Kock, Rizwan, Pant can win you matches single-handedly with their bat, a quality which was missing from wicket keepers prior to Gilly.

It is the same reason why I am totally against the idea of England playing Foakes in their eleven, that guy is from the same species of keepers who were just journeymen with the bat and again its not about average, he just doesn’t have the batting talent to win matches.

I remember how people here were advocating from him but England realised that he isn’t international standard and put him back to where he belonged i.e domestic cricket.

Disagree. A substandard keeper can cost you games with a miss or 2 more often than they will win you 1 with a match-winning knock. The likes of Bairstow and Kamran have show that. That's not even considering the extra half-chances a gun keeper can reel in to win games.

Superior batting is always invaluable in a keeper but only if it doesn't come with a significant reduction in keeping quality

Foakes in particular would have been a far superior choice to Bairstow over the last few seasons