Cricketers who changed the way the game was played

[Top_Cat]

Alan Knott, Kiran More, Stewart. Moin Khan and Hashan Tillekaratne all say "We've batted well before Gilly, Sanga or Andy"

Only Alec Stewart of those is a bloke you'd have in the side on his batting alone whilst 'keeping (Tillikeratne only really cemented his place in the side as a batsman alone when he gave up the gloves). That's what we're talking about here. There have always been 'keepers who, on their day, would bat relatively well. You wouldn't, however, rely on it as part of batting the gamplan to the same degree as the Aussies would have with Gilchrist.

 

[Andrew Pollock]

Thought the Poms used Botham as a hard hitting opener in ODIs as far back as 86-87 tbh.

Don't forget Wayne Phillips, who scored at a high run rate for the time, opened the batting in ODI in the mid 80's. Phillips is the one who changed the wicketkeeper to batsman mould.

 

[Burgey]

Don't forget Wayne Phillips, who scored at a high run rate for the time, opened the batting in ODI in the mid 80's. Phillips is the one who changed the wicketkeeper to batsman mould.

Maybe. Sadly though, he wasn't particularly good at either.

IIRC he went out to bat once vs Zimbbwe wearing a walkman, which was pretty cool.

 

[Andrew Pollock]

Maybe. Sadly though, he wasn't particularly good at either.

IIRC he went out to bat once vs Zimbbwe wearing a walkman, which was pretty cool.

Picked as as batsmen (R Marsh was WK) and scored 150 on his debut

 

[Burgey]

Picked as as batsmen (R Marsh was WK) and scored 150 on his debut

I know - I watched him score it.

Was mostly a one-test wonder though. I agree he sure could play some blistering shots. Especially on the cut - iirc he square cut Garner for 6 at the SCG once.

 

[Andrew Pollock]

I know - I watched him score it.

Was mostly a one-test wonder though. I agree he sure could play some blistering shots. Especially on the cut - iirc he square cut Garner for 6 at the SCG once.

I think that was Kepler Wessells

 

[Matt79]

What about Saqlain, for inventing the doosra?

They have Bosanquet on the list for the googly. The doosra is merely the fingerspin equivalent of the googly. It didn't have the revolutionary impact on cricket overall as the googly did. (ie. not saying its better or worse, but its simply a different way to achieve the same effect as the googly, some 60-80 years later).

With regard to Lloyd, it was Armstrong IIRC who introduced the concept of opening the bowling with your fastest bowlers (MacDonald and Gregory). Prior to that, it had been the practice to open with your best bowlers, regardless of what speed they bowled.

 

[Top_Cat]

I think that was Kepler Wessells

You reckon? I mean, I think I remember Kepler lifting a drive once but hitting 6's? Find it difficult to believe.

 

[Andrew Pollock]

You reckon? I mean, I think I remember Kepler lifting a drive once but hitting 6's? Find it difficult to believe.

That is what made it so memorable.

 

[NUFAN]

Dipak Patel

Opening ODIs with spin, most likely Martin Crowes idea, I just wanted the most average player to be mentioned.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, might have been Kepler, but I have a memory of Phillips doing something similar. Thought I saw it a few weeks ago on one of those WS Classics on Fox.

Was late at night, though.

 

[Andrew Pollock]

Yeah, might have been Kepler, but I have a memory of Phillips doing something similar. Thought I saw it a few weeks ago on one of those WS Classics on Fox.

Was late at night, though.

I think it was the Final Match of the WSC vs West Indies (1985)

 

[Matt79]

Funny, was just about to nominate Tony Greig for his role in WSC.

 

[bagapath]

the first great wk-batsman was les ames. averaged 43 in test matches with 8 centuries. scored 102 first class centuries. but gilly's role in the 90s has coincided witht the arrival of sanga, dhoni etc. ames' achievements for england were stand out performances in the 30s

 

[Matt79]

Think that the point of "who changed the way the game was played" is not merely to say that someone was the first to do something that later became popular, but that they were the player that led to it becoming popular and emulated. There's a difference.

 

[Richard]

I don't think Gilchrist did do that, though - I don't think anyone can or ever will. As I say, having a genuine Test-class batsman who can nonetheless keep wicket at least as well as anybody else is not something anyone is going to be able to get very often. A Stewart, Flower or Gilchrist (and sometimes Sangakkara) is a rare thing. Nor is it exclusively a modern thing; Leslie Ames in the 1930s has been mentioned by bagapath; 50 years before him there was Billy Murdoch. Clyde Walcott did the job in the 1950s. Jeffrey Dujon did for a time in the 1980s, before his batting declined. Denis Lindsay in the 1960s.

Even now, we have mere Bouchers, Jayawardenes, McCullums, Kamran Akmals, Ramdins; all capable lower-order batsmen, but never people who would make the side purely for their batting.

And like the batsmen-wicketkeepers, wicketkeeper-batsmen have always been present even before the 1980s and 1990s: Engineer, Marsh, Knott, Murray, etc.

The batsman-wicketkeeper is neither something that started with Gilchrist nor something that will ever become a trend. It is something that will be a rare bonus, because only a phenominally gifted cricketer will ever be able to do it.

 

[Matt79]

Sorry, should have said "attempted to emulate". And Gilchrist clearly did lead to a readjustment of selection criteria around the world in terms of the compromise teams were prepared to make with keeping skills, in return for a better batting option. That compromise no doubt already occurred, but he led to a shift in the balance.

 

[Richard]

Well, TBH I don't know that we'll be able to assess that until a few decades are gone by. Sure, it's led to a fair few rubbish wicketkeepers playing Tests in the last 3 or 4 years. But hopefully that will stop again before long. Because I hate to see people being given the gloves in Tests who are so woefully inept with them.

 

[subshakerz]

Sarfraz Nawaz leads the list, IMO. Reverse swing is now a standard part of any fast-bowler's armory, and its an innovation that will continue as long as the game does.

 

[Richard]

What I've always wanted to know is was it actually Sarfaraz Nawaz who discovered reverse-swing, or did he learn it from Asif Masood or whoever.

There was a fair length of time when Imran Khan was said to have discovered it too, then he eventually decided it was time to say Sarfaraz had shown him it.

Either way, whoever it was probably is one of the biggest innovators in cricket history.