Best 'keeper of the 90s

[Tom Flint]

Dujon for a little while too

 

[Burgey]

Noticeable lack of West Indians in the discussion. Don't remember much about David Williams (apart from being an exceptionally useless bat, barring one innings in which his partnership with Hooper snatched a test match from England's grasp), but was supposedly a fine keeper? Junior Murray and Courtney Browne as I recall were decent enough without being exceptional.

Ridley Jacobs is probably my favourite West Indian player from the Lara-Adams-Hooper captaincy eras when they seriously began to decline, probably didn't play enough in the 90s to figure in the discussion.

Yeah Jacobs was a very good keeper/batsman but I associate him more with the 2000s too. Courtney Browne will always be remembered for dropping Waugh in the 05 decider. Junior Murray played a season for Fairfield-Liverpool in the late 90s/ early 2000s out here and I am reliably informed he cut a ****ing swathe through the women-folk of western Sydney.

 

[_Ed_]

From highlights of the '92-93 series I saw on TV recently, Williams was clearly a better 'keeper than Murray. But his batting was atrocious.

 

[Moss]

Tillekaratne was as good as Solkar at that position. He has taken some ridiculously difficult catches with no hassle at that position. Taking them off Murali was relatively easy. But when it is spinning comparable amounts, jumping off the length at 100 - 110k from Jayananda Warnaweera, it is no joke. It is sad Warnaweera never played more. His abrasive personality got him in to multiple altercations with selectors and the board.

Off topic I know but I always thought Warnaweera didn't play more because of doubts over the legality of his action? I was holidaying in Lanka in 2015 and managed to catch the Galle test during India's visit (the one in which Chandimal played that crazy second innings knock after which Herath spun India out), and noticed Warnaweera's name figuring prominently on the official boards there. After casually remarking "hey, I know that name.." a couple of times, I was quite surprised to learn that our man pretty much ran the stadium right down to preparing the pitch.

 

[Starfighter]

One thing I've often occasionally pondered, is was England actually getting anything out of not selecting Russell and having Stewart keep? We know that Stewart averaged way more when not keeping (no idea about how the opposition affected that, though) and how it's not like England had too many (well, any) batsmen or allrounders who would have strengthened the team playing in Russell's position.

 

[Moss]

One thing I've often occasionally pondered, is was England actually getting anything out of not selecting Russell and having Stewart keep? We know that Stewart averaged way more when not keeping (no idea about how the opposition affected that, though) and how it's not like England had too many (well, any) batsmen or allrounders who would have strengthened the team playing in Russell's position.

Have heard arguments on both sides of that one. On Stewart as keeper and middle-order batsman, the reasoning seemed to be that there was a viable enough opening combination (usually Atherton/Gooch, and later Atherton/Knight or Atherton/Butcher) at the top and they reckoned Stewart in middle order player added more consistency against the better opposition bowling attacks than the likes of Hick/Ramprakash/Allrounder of the week etc. On the keeping front, the England attacks were seam-based and Stewart was adequate enough in that sense. Russell was obviously far better standing up and would have been a must in the subcontinent (as it happens, there was only one tour to the subcontinent in the 90s - India in 1992/93 and of course the selectors decided to drop Russell and take Richard Blakey instead.). One issue with this was Stewart was a far better player of pace than spin, and being in the middle order tended to expose him at times when they played Australia and Warne.

What I find inexplicable is that Blakey and later Steve Rhodes both managed to claim the keeper's pot ahead of Russell on major tours in the 90's, but that was typical of the selectors in that era I suppose.

 

[stephen]

Are you thinking of Phil Emery?

Yes. Emery was supposed to be basically flawless behind the stumps.

Geez the 90s keepers Australia had were top notch. Emery, Berry, Seccombe and Healy all were exceptional glovemen.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

And Tillekaratne was able to pull out this too, other than for his batting, keeping and catching.

Well, he could have bowled with both feet in this match and it couldn't have affected the result of the game.

 

[morgieb]

Yes. Emery was supposed to be basically flawless behind the stumps.

Geez the 90s keepers Australia had were top notch. Emery, Berry, Seccombe and Healy all were exceptional glovemen.

I think glovework everywhere has gone way downhill. Whether it's because the better ones aren't good enough with the bat to get exposure or a lack of practice, I don't know. Most likely both.

 

[The Hutt Rec]

On Parore, I just said inconsistent because I recall often he would play as a specialist batsman. And I remember Parore missing a few in the 1999 tour when they were here. Guess my impression is going more from there. He was definitely a very talented batsman who often seemed to not care. I don't recall much of his keeping apart from a couple of misses but then some amazing takes in the 99 tour, but like many say, that perhaps indicates he was very good at it.

He was bizarrely relieved of the gloves by Glenn Turner as coach in favour of Lee Germon, who was definitely an inferior keeper and not up to Parore’s level with the bat, either.

 

[Migara]

Are we missing a 90s keeper in this discussion? Possibly from early 90?

Kiran More?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Kiran More?

Most likely him.
Andy Flower was the guy I had in mind though.

 

[Migara]

Off topic I know but I always thought Warnaweera didn't play more because of doubts over the legality of his action? I was holidaying in Lanka in 2015 and managed to catch the Galle test during India's visit (the one in which Chandimal played that crazy second innings knock after which Herath spun India out), and noticed Warnaweera's name figuring prominently on the official boards there. After casually remarking "hey, I know that name.." a couple of times, I was quite surprised to learn that our man pretty much ran the stadium right down to preparing the pitch.

Doubts can be real, and doubts can be raised because you are **** scared too. He properly ticked the balls of many batsmen with pace and bounce.

He debuted in 1986 and played up to 1994, but played very little cricket. in mid to late 80s should have played more compared to imposters we had like Don Anurasiri, Ruwan Kalpage and Ranjith Madurasinghe, who hardly spun the ball from straight.,

Then he was associated with a fixing scandal and now kicked out of the job.

 

[morgieb]

Most likely him.
Andy Flower was the guy I had in mind though.

Flower was basically a 21st Century wicket-keeper that played in the 90's. He wasn't a good keeper, no matter how excellent of a batsman he was.

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Flower was basically a 21st Century wicket-keeper that played in the 90's. He wasn't a good keeper, no matter how excellent of a batsman he was.

I saw him mostly with pads on...so I am not even gonna critique his keeping lol

 

[Migara]

Sri Lanka had the knack of producing batsman keepers, who later give up gloves to another batsman keeper. List starts with Brendon Kuruppu, Asanka Gurusinha, Hashan Tillekaratne, TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Kusal Mendis to Kusal Perera. Kaluwitharana and Prasanna Jayawardane were the two genuine keepers we had who could handle a bat properly.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Flower was basically a 21st Century wicket-keeper that played in the 90's. He wasn't a good keeper, no matter how excellent of a batsman he was.

That's hugely disrespectful to 21st century keepers

Sri Lanka had the knack of producing batsman keepers, who later give up gloves to another batsman keeper. List starts with Brendon Kuruppu, Asanka Gurusinha, Hashan Tillekaratne, TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Kusal Mendis to Kusal Perera. Kaluwitharana and Prasanna Jayawardane were the two genuine keepers we had who could handle a bat properly.

This is interesting. Even out of the ordinary Sri Lankans that come over to play club cricket in Aus (usually have played a few FC games then fell away) a high proportion seem to be keepers. And some very good keepers too.

 

[Flametree]

Sri Lanka had the knack of producing batsman keepers, who later give up gloves to another batsman keeper. List starts with Brendon Kuruppu, Asanka Gurusinha, Hashan Tillekaratne, TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Kusal Mendis to Kusal Perera. Kaluwitharana and Prasanna Jayawardane were the two genuine keepers we had who could handle a bat properly.

You missed Chandimal from the list...

Is Gurusinha one of the best bowlers who could also keep? I know Tim Zoehrer was a decent leggie but Gurusinha took 20 test wickets at 34.

I only saw Jayawardene on one tour but he looked an absolute natural. Feels like the last pure keeper anywhere, though Saha has his fans.

 

[Migara]

You missed Chandimal from the list...

Is Gurusinha one of the best bowlers who could also keep? I know Tim Zoehrer was a decent leggie but Gurusinha took 20 test wickets at 34.

I only saw Jayawardene on one tour but he looked an absolute natural. Feels like the last pure keeper anywhere, though Saha has his fans.

Probably yes. Gurusinha had to give away with keeping and bowling both due to back troubles. When on song he used to hit the bat extremely hard, and once or twice was the fastest in the bowling attack. As with many old timers, he was never a fitness geek. The fitness became the mantra with Dav Whatmore, and Jayasuriya, Vaas and Murali became champions of it. If Gurusinha maintained his fitness, would have scored lot more, and bowled lot more as well.

Dilshan was a useful bowler, and he has kept has well. Tatenda Taibu looked a decent medium pace bowler, and so was AB Devilliers. Looking at their bowling actions, i like ABDV most, as he had a natural flowing slinging action. Gurusinha was downright ugly with his bowling action.

 

[Moss]

Sri Lanka had the knack of producing batsman keepers, who later give up gloves to another batsman keeper. List starts with Brendon Kuruppu, Asanka Gurusinha, Hashan Tillekaratne, TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Kusal Mendis to Kusal Perera. Kaluwitharana and Prasanna Jayawardane were the two genuine keepers we had who could handle a bat properly.

In the middle of all this there were a bunch of guys who seemed to be competing with Kaluwitharana in the 90s, Ashley de Silva, Pudubu Dasanayake, Dunusinghe (think he played a good knock in SL's famous win in Napier in 95) and Lanka de Silva (remembered in India for being felled by a Srinath bouncer). Although Kalu was ever-present in the side it seems like he was continually looking over his shoulder. Can't remember if any of these was a serious contender though Lanka's glovework was talked up when he visited India in '97.

Prasanna was certainly a terrific keeper, genuine contender for best of the 00's.