Best Test Wicket-Keeper Batsman

Okay, this has probably been discussed before, but I don't think we've ever had a lot of good debate about it.

Adam Gilchrist
Andy Flower
Kumar Sangakarra
Les Ames
Alec Stewart

Falls between the two I'm really familiar with (which isn't the best thing to do) and I believe Kumar is getting better all the time, despite being better without the gloves on. He's a excellent wicket keeper and a very quality batsman.

Harsh on Gilchrist who I rate just as highly though Sanga's edged it for me.

Has to be Gilly, while I rate Sangakkara very highly, and he may compare favorably at the end of his career, for now Gilly reasonably comfortably for mine

Alan Knott is the best keeper by the proverbial mile and until the recent generations produced Gilchrist and Sangakarra he was also a contender for the greatest keeper/batsman of all time. He now falls behind those two although he stays ahead of Flower just for his far superior keeping.

I've always rated Andy Flower and the fact that he never had as much support as the other highly regarded players on the list was a shame. But still a class player who I can remember always threatening when NZ played Zimbabwe.

Sangakkara has effectively taken over Flower's role as a classy but powerful left handed wicket keeper batsman. His performances in the test series last season were immense and he and Jayawardene appear the glue in SL's success over recent times.

However I'd have to go with Gilchrist on this occasion. Admittedly his test average has dropped noticeably over recent times but his ability to change a game and play with freedom and yet class has left myself in awe at times. Definite winner for me.

Flower's keeping is grossly over-stated. He was a world class batsman who kept wicket, often poorly.

Sangakkara simply doesn't keep wicket enough for me to rate him above Gilchrist. He often gives up the gloves so he can bat in the top order and while is wicket keeping is certainly of a high standard, the fact that he's reluctant to do it along with the fact that his batting is poorer when he keeps means I can't really look beyond Gilchrist at this stage.

Gilchrist and by a distance. Distructive, run piler who keeps as brilliantly as any keeper in history barring maybe 1-2 names.

Prince EWS said:

Flower's keeping is grossly over-stated. He was a world class batsman who kept wicket, often poorly.

Sangakkara simply doesn't keep wicket enough for me to rate him above Gilchrist. He often gives up the gloves so he can bat in the top order and while is wicket keeping is certainly of a high standard, the fact that he's reluctant to do it along with the fact that his batting is poorer when he keeps means I can't really look beyond Gilchrist at this stage.

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Yeah TBF thats a pretty good point, while Sanga is just as talented with bat and gloves, he's reluctant to do it which should edge Gilchrist over the line.

Gilly, I rate Sanga and Flower highly though. I like Flower more for his batting.

Gilly - im biased though

I think Gilly is the best keeper batsman in the history of the game, he has played so many match-winning knocks for his side that its almost unbelievable.
He is one of the most destructive batsman to have ever played the game and with his batting he has won games for Australia from hopeless situation innumerable times and his keeping has also been top notch through most of his career.

Going with Kumar, he is both consistant and elegant with the bat and his keeping is always efficient. He rarely has a bad match and keeps to tough bowlers. Chaminda Vaas who is a left armer (left armers being notably hard to keep to), swings it both ways and Kumar stands up to him often; Malinga with the bizarre action and Muralitharan who may be one of the hardest to keep to due to the variations and the fact that the confused batsman may often obscure the keeper's vision.

Rob alluded best to the reasons, TBH - Flower, while he did keep wicket and sometimes did a good job, was not of the highest quality. Likewise, Sangakkara isn't a consistent enough presence behind the stumps and unfortunately given that when he has been there he's usually batted three, it's meant his performance has dropped.

Therefore, Gilchrist, with 4 years of phenomena and 4 years of mediocrity, has to top the list.

If it was a case of best batsmen of those to keep wicket regularly in Tests, Flower FTW every time.

Lillian Thomson said:

Alan Knott is the best keeper by the proverbial mile and until the recent generations produced Gilchrist and Sangakarra he was also a contender for the greatest keeper/batsman of all time. He now falls behind those two although he stays ahead of Flower just for his far superior keeping.

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Absolutely no way was Knott a proverbial mile ahead of Stewart, and certainly not even ahead at all IMO.

Well Flower is clearly the best batsmen out of those IMO, but when it comes down to keeping, it could really be any of those.

PhoenixFire said:

Well Flower is clearly the best batsmen out of those IMO, but when it comes down to keeping, it could really be any of those.

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Agreed.

Gilly is the best at the moment. Sangakara and Dhoni would be comparable at the end of their careers. All three are very destructive batsmen. Dhoni has improved his keeping skills a lot recently. There is no doubt about keeping skills of other two.

Kumar Sangakarra for mine.

it comes to top three

Andy, Gilly, Sangakara

i voted for Andy because he was better test batsman than Sangakara and Gilly.. he was alone fighter... he didn't have any one to support him yet he manage to keep his average over 50 in test matches..

in upcoming years i see Sangakara geting there.

however, in shorter versian of the game i would likely to pick Gilly over them...

its got to be sanga for me as gilchrist is to reckless a batter.

and sanga has got the same birthday as me so that also gives him an edge