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Best Test wicket-keeper of all time?

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axis

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Who is your pick for the WK position in an ALL-time Test XI ? I am not interested to look for keeper-batsman or batsman-keeper.. In an all-time XI, the top 5-6 will be batsmen of top quality.. I need a WK who is a specialist keeper.. should be having following qualities.

1. Acrobatic against fast bowlers.
2. Ability to read spin bowling and movement of feet.
3. Should be a safe catcher.
4. Should be able to effect sharp stumpings
5. Should not give too many byes or leak runs.
6. Should be a motivator of the team and well respected by the team.
7. Not necessarily a captain, but a very shrewd mind and a good tactician.


Please name your keeper for all-time Test XI purely on keeping skills above.
 
I have watched a few keepers in the past decades, and I wouldn't be wrong to pick Ian Healy as he was the safest while keeping to Warne, and equally good against pacemen standing back.
 
In the ten years up to the Packer-split in 1977, Alan Knott played in 89 of England's 93 Tests - nearly 20 more than any other Englishman - and hardly missed a chance that anyone remembers. Yet to see his wicketkeeping at its most spectacular, you had to catch him standing up to Derek Underwood on a rain-affected pitch for Kent in county cricket.
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Alan Knott anyone?

From Pakistan it has to be Rashid Latif imo.
 
WhenSultansBowled said:
Alan Knott anyone?

From Pakistan it has to be Rashid Latif imo.
Click to expand...

Yeah Knott was excellent, never saw a safer keeper.. I went for Healy because keeping to Warne was more difficult.

Warne rated Healy in top-10/15 of the best cricketers he played with/against..
 
Jack Russell is the best I have seen in person. He was excellent standing up to medium fast bowlers bowling between 80 and 85 mph, he was a special talent and should have played more matches for England in other circumstances. I'd put him ahead of Healy to be honest.
 
Last Monetarist said:
Jack Russell is the best I have seen in person. He was excellent standing up to medium fast bowlers bowling between 80 and 85 mph, he was a special talent and should have played more matches for England in other circumstances. I'd put him ahead of Healy to be honest.
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Even against Warne ?
 
WhenSultansBowled said:
Alan Knott anyone?

From Pakistan it has to be Rashid Latif imo.
Click to expand...

Knott was the best Englishman I saw. Actually Bob Taylor may have been even better as he stood up to the stumps to medium pacers while Knott rarely did. Jack Russell had such quick hands. Those guys were immaculate. There’s nobody in their league around the Counties today.

Aussies - Rod Marsh or Ian Healy.

Pakistan - Wasim Bari.

Indians - Engineer.

WI - Jeff Dujon.
 
Best Keeper to fast Bowlers was Ray Jennings father of Keaton. Best Allrounder keeper was Ian Healey
 
Best keeper for his keeping skills would be Mark Boucher and based on batting its Adam Gilchrist.
 
axis said:
Even against Warne ?
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I am sure Russell would have found a way to cope against Warne.

I remember Healy make two series defining mistakes, one in Karachi where he missed a straightforward stumping off Inzamam, and the other in Bridgetown when he dropped a straightforward chance off Lara. Healy is definitely among the top 3 wicketkeepers I have seen though.

Off those that I have seen live:

1. Russell
2. Healy
3. Boucher
4. Latif
5. Gilchrist
6. Richardson
7. Parore
8. Watling
9. Haddin
10. Dhoni
 
Robert said:
Knott was the best Englishman I saw. Actually Bob Taylor may have been even better as he stood up to the stumps to medium pacers while Knott rarely did. Jack Russell had such quick hands. Those guys were immaculate. There’s nobody in their league around the Counties today.

Aussies - Rod Marsh or Ian Healy.

Pakistan - Wasim Bari.

Indians - Engineer.

WI - Jeff Dujon.
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Before Jonty Rhodes High flying catching and fielding, we witnessed high flying Jeffery Dujon. With the WI pace attack in the 80s, 40 wides an innings was not uncommon. Yes, all of them had one main idea. Bowl as fast as possible. The raddar wasn't there many a times. You had to have a special keeper to get to those deliveries. My vote is for Dujon, the pure athlete, among all Wicket keepers.
 
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Oh, by the way, those days wides were really wide. Way way outside. :)
 
BD-fan said:
Before Jonty Rhodes High flying catching and fielding, we witnessed high flying Jeffery Dujon. With the WI pace attack in the 80s, 40 wides an innings was not uncommon. Yes, all of them had one main idea. Bowl as fast as possible. The raddar wasn't there many a times. You had to have a special keeper to get to those deliveries. My vote is for Dujon, the pure athlete, among all Wicket keepers.
Click to expand...

He would put steaks in his gloves to protect his hands. His gloves must have stunk after a day’s play! He can’t close his fists now.
 
BD-fan said:
Before Jonty Rhodes High flying catching and fielding, we witnessed high flying Jeffery Dujon. With the WI pace attack in the 80s, 40 wides an innings was not uncommon. Yes, all of them had one main idea. Bowl as fast as possible. The raddar wasn't there many a times. You had to have a special keeper to get to those deliveries. My vote is for Dujon, the pure athlete, among all Wicket keepers.
Click to expand...

He wasn't tested against spin.
 
Last Monetarist said:
I am sure Russell would have found a way to cope against Warne.

I remember Healy make two series defining mistakes, one in Karachi where he missed a straightforward stumping off Inzamam, and the other in Bridgetown when he dropped a straightforward chance off Lara. Healy is definitely among the top 3 wicketkeepers I have seen though.
Click to expand...

I don't rate odd failures in important moments.. could happen to even the best of the lot.

I judge them overall..

Russell never kept to a maverick like Warne.. and watching Healy I don't think anyone would have fared better than him against Warne.. just my opinion.
 
Heard and read many good things about healy, knott etc. But havent watched and I guess there is no youtube video on wicketkeeping skills of yesteryear great wk. So I will pick gilchrist over boucher because he kept to warne.
 
Toughest place to keep is UK & India. UK for the late swing of the ball, while IND obviously for the uneven bounce & extravagant turn from day 3.

Of the WK’s I have seen live or archived, Syed Kirmani was almost near perfect against spin, but he hardly had to keep against pace. Against raw fast bowling both Rod Marsh & Jeff Doujon were fantastic, Marsh’s anticipation was outstanding while Doujon was acrobatic - but none of them kept against even decent spin.

On pure WK merit, the cleanest 2 English keeper I had seen were Knott & Taylor. They could keep standing on the wicket even against medium pacers on a seeming track & Knott kept well against Underwood on wet wickets as well - and they played together for like 20 years at Kent. Russell was quite safe as well.

The keepers I have seen most were Healy & Latif. Healy was outstanding against Warne bowling on roughs & he kept against pacers brilliantly as well, while Latif was pure natural Keeping talent - kept brilliantly against spinners & he was the best keeper I have even seen against reverse swing, took several one handed catches when ball had changed direction at last moment. He was so natural that, hardly one could hear the sound of ball thumping on his palm. Bari was also a fantastic all-round keeper - less athletic, but very good anticipation & gathering. Among recent cricketers, Boucher was fantastic against pace, but I have seen him struggling against spin - SAF during his time hardly used spin, but in few occasions, he wasn’t comfortable standing on wicket, still brilliant keeper. Pasanna Jaya was probably best keeper in last 2 decades, particularly against spin. Chris Nevin was good as well. These days, best WK is Saha, but pure WKeeping skills are diminishing fast.

My top 5 will be Knott, Healy, Latif, Bob Taylor & Kirmani. I haven’t ever seen great olden days WK like Grout or Evans.
 
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In my lifetime, Alan Knott closely followed by Bob Taylor and Wasim Bari.

In history, unquestionably Godfrey Evans.
 
Last Monetarist said:
I am sure Russell would have found a way to cope against Warne.

I remember Healy make two series defining mistakes, one in Karachi where he missed a straightforward stumping off Inzamam, and the other in Bridgetown when he dropped a straightforward chance off Lara. Healy is definitely among the top 3 wicketkeepers I have seen though.

Off those that I have seen live:

1. Russell
2. Healy
3. Boucher
4. Latif
5. Gilchrist
6. Richardson
7. Parore
8. Watling
9. Haddin
10. Dhoni
Click to expand...
Was the Inzamam missed stumping at Karachi a mistake?

Because the thing about Saleem Malik’s illegal approach to Shane Warne and Tim May is that we assume the Aussies turned it down.

But Pakistan won the Test by the tenth wicket scoring a fifty partnership to win, against remarkably inaccurate bowling.
 
axis said:
I don't rate odd failures in important moments.. could happen to even the best of the lot.

I judge them overall..

Russell never kept to a maverick like Warne.. and watching Healy I don't think anyone would have fared better than him against Warne.. just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I never saw Healy keep up to fast bowlers at the same level as Russell. So there you go, opinions. The thing about Healy's mistakes is that they were high profile ones under pressure, so they stick in my mind. Kamran Akmal won't have looked out of place making those errors.
 
Junaids said:
Was the Inzamam missed stumping at Karachi a mistake?

Because the thing about Saleem Malik’s illegal approach to Shane Warne and Tim May is that we assume the Aussies turned it down.

But Pakistan won the Test by the tenth wicket scoring a fifty partnership to win, against remarkably inaccurate bowling.
Click to expand...


Healy's mistake is around the 4 minute mark, it was almost as if he deliberately took his eyes off the ball. Another dubious piece of cricket is around 2m30s with Tim May bowling to the last wicket pair without a slip in place. Shoddy bowling and captaincy doesn't cover it. :wasim
 
Junaids said:
Was the Inzamam missed stumping at Karachi a mistake?

Because the thing about Saleem Malik’s illegal approach to Shane Warne and Tim May is that we assume the Aussies turned it down.

But Pakistan won the Test by the tenth wicket scoring a fifty partnership to win, against remarkably inaccurate bowling.
Click to expand...

Last Monetarist said:

Healy's mistake is around the 4 minute mark, it was almost as if he deliberately took his eyes off the ball. Another dubious piece of cricket is around 2m30s with Tim May bowling to the last wicket pair without a slip in place. Shoddy bowling and captaincy doesn't cover it. :wasim
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Precisely.

Don’t forget, the Australian Cricket Board for months covered up what we now know: that Saleem Malik offered May and Warne $150,000 each to throw the Test. And only May reported an illegal approach - even though Mark Waugh and Shane Warne were later revealed to have been paid by a bookie a month earlier in Colombo.

The obvious assumption has always been “May and Warne were the only players approached and they turned the offer down”.

But seriously. A tenth wicket 50 partnership to win a Test which was 99.99% lost!

The fielding team’s skipper using no slip against a Number 11 batsman? The world’s best keeper not just missing the stumping to win the match, but in the process conceding the winning runs as byes!

Ian Healy was the best glovesman in the 35 years since Alan Knott’s Apartheid tour ended his career.

But that missed stumping at Karachi will in my mind always raise questions.
 
MMHS said:
Toughest place to keep is UK & India. UK for the late swing of the ball, while IND obviously for the uneven bounce & extravagant turn from day 3.

Of the WK’s I have seen live or archived, Syed Kirmani was almost near perfect against spin, but he hardly had to keep against pace. Against raw fast bowling both Rod Marsh & Jeff Doujon were fantastic, Marsh’s anticipation was outstanding while Doujon was acrobatic - but none of them kept against even decent spin.

On pure WK merit, the cleanest 2 English keeper I had seen were Knott & Taylor. They could keep standing on the wicket even against medium pacers on a seeming track & Knott kept well against Underwood on wet wickets as well - and they played together for like 20 years at Kent. Russell was quite safe as well.

The keepers I have seen most were Healy & Latif. Healy was outstanding against Warne bowling on roughs & he kept against pacers brilliantly as well, while Latif was pure natural Keeping talent - kept brilliantly against spinners & he was the best keeper I have even seen against reverse swing, took several one handed catches when ball had changed direction at last moment. He was so natural that, hardly one could hear the sound of ball thumping on his palm. Bari was also a fantastic all-round keeper - less athletic, but very good anticipation & gathering. Among recent cricketers, Boucher was fantastic against pace, but I have seen him struggling against spin - SAF during his time hardly used spin, but in few occasions, he wasn’t comfortable standing on wicket, still brilliant keeper. Pasanna Jaya was probably best keeper in last 2 decades, particularly against spin. Chris Nevin was good as well. These days, best WK is Saha, but pure WKeeping skills are diminishing fast.

My top 5 will be Knott, Healy, Latif, Bob Taylor & Kirmani. I haven’t ever seen great olden days WK like Grout or Evans.
Click to expand...

He was so natural that, hardly one could hear the sound of ball thumping on his palm.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Maybe it was due to a micro-movement of hands the split second ball touched his hands. Never kept in my life but played basketball and some point guards pass you at high speeds so you gotta make a sort of "follow through" movement.

I'll talk to my cousin who is a local WK/Opener about that in detail ;)
 
I can be wrong here, but based on my 30
years of experience with this great game, the first name coming into my heart is an obscure Nayan Mongia. If you are looking for a perfect wicket keeper and NOT someone who can bat too, Nayan Mongia is unrivalled.
Honourable mention: Alan Knott, Rashid Latiff, Rodney Marsh. That's it.
 
axis said:
He wasn't tested against spin.
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Come again?

With all the pace attack attention WI got (pitch and players), Lance Gibbs got more wickets than Roberts, Marshall, Holding, Garner, Croft. ALL OF THEM. Back then 300+ test wicket was highly highly praised. To compare Gibbs, Abdul Qadir couldn't cross 260 with the dust bowl they played in.

You can't question Dujon's WKing ability. He was recognized as world's best at his time. He was tested against spin alright. It is just you don't know.
 
Robert said:
He would put steaks in his gloves to protect his hands. His gloves must have stunk after a day’s play! He can’t close his fists now.
Click to expand...
I didnot know his current situation. Really feeling bad.
 
BD-fan said:
Come again?

With all the pace attack attention WI got (pitch and players), Lance Gibbs got more wickets than Roberts, Marshall, Holding, Garner, Croft. ALL OF THEM. Back then 300+ test wicket was highly highly praised. To compare Gibbs, Abdul Qadir couldn't cross 260 with the dust bowl they played in.

You can't question Dujon's WKing ability. He was recognized as world's best at his time. He was tested against spin alright. It is just you don't know.
Click to expand...

Dear cricket expert,

Lance Gibbs played his last Test in 1976.
Jeff Dujon made his Test debut in 1981.

Thank you.
 
WhenSultansBowled said:

Interesting. Maybe it was due to a micro-movement of hands the split second ball touched his hands. Never kept in my life but played basketball and some point guards pass you at high speeds so you gotta make a sort of "follow through" movement.

I'll talk to my cousin who is a local WK/Opener about that in detail ;)
Click to expand...

It's timing - best WKs never grab or snatch at the ball, rather they allow the ball to reach them & gather it with silken touch. Your cousin will tell you that every coach tells WK not to snatch at the ball, rather withdraw gloves at the right time just when the ball touches palm, at the same time you have to close your bucket as well, and never fall on your elbow - it's a fantastic skill of coordinated effort. It's almost natural, you can't become a top WK just from practicing hard; also body structure, hand-eye, fitness, eye sight .... needs to be ideal for WK.
 
Junaids said:
In history, unquestionably Godfrey Evans.
Click to expand...

Kept to Laker (GOAT English offie), Lock (GOAT English SLA) and Wardle (English mystery SLA / wrist spinner who averaged 20).

Not to mention Statham cutting it about like a better version of Broad, and Trueman swinging it both ways at rocketspeed.
 
Here's the kind of quality that Russell brought to the game that I have seldom seen since from any wicketkeeper :


Gladstone Small used to bowl in the mid-eighties, to gather that ball on the leg-side and whip off the bails before Jones could realize was truly marvellous.
 
Last Monetarist said:
Here's the kind of quality that Russell brought to the game that I have seldom seen since from any wicketkeeper :


Gladstone Small used to bowl in the mid-eighties, to gather that ball on the leg-side and whip off the bails before Jones could realize was truly marvellous.
Click to expand...

Superb.
 
Wasn't Alan Knott considered as one of the greatest wicket keepers of all time? Ian Healy was brilliant too.
 
Last Monetarist said:
Here's the kind of quality that Russell brought to the game that I have seldom seen since from any wicketkeeper :

Gladstone Small used to bowl in the mid-eighties, to gather that ball on the leg-side and whip off the bails before Jones could realize was truly marvellous.
Click to expand...

Extraordinary, and not even Knott stood up to FM bowlers, though Bob Taylor did.

In these days where keepers are picked for their batting you don’t see skill like that.
 
Jack Russell was a similarly intense and solitary man like Alan Knott.

His keeping was brilliant, but he could fall apart mentally and miss relatively simple chances.
 
I started watching cricket from 96 from those i have seen the best probably was Nayan Mongia and Dhoni vs Spin.

Mark Boucher and Gilchrist vs Pace
 
Jack Russell was a supremely talented wicket keeper. But, I haven't seen him keeping against top quality spin.
Jeff Dujon, and Mark Boucher were great with pace.
Andy Flower was versatile and safe keeper against pace and spin.
Ian Healy and Nayan Mongia were very good with pace and spin.

If I have to pick one, I will pick Ian Healy.
 
ChennaiFan said:
Jack Russell was a supremely talented wicket keeper. But, I haven't seen him keeping against top quality spin.
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He kept to Tufnell, who would have done a lot better under the current lbw law.
 
Dhoni against spinners, Boucher against pacers.
Haven't seen the old time keepers, so will be unfair to speculate.
 
A lot of people rate Rashid Latif very highly.
 
England- Allan Knot
Australia- Ian Healy
India- Farokh Engineer
Pakistan- Wasim Bari
 
5 greatest pure wicket keepers :-

1. Syed Kirmani
2. Ian Healy
3. Allan Knott
4. Rashid Latif
5. MS Dhoni
 
It is actually unfair to call someone a #2 in the presence of Syed Kirmani who was just so far ahead in his skill.
 
So where does MS Dhoni figure in this list?
 
In 70s and early 80s when many all time great wicket keepers were active at the same time like Rodney Marsh, Allen Knot , Kirmani, Derek Murray, Wasim Bari was considered to be the best keeper and the worst batsman among them.

Not too many PPers have seen Bari keeping, please see his clips on youtube and you will come to know why some experts consider him to be the best ever wicket keeper in test cricket. He was so talented and gifted, unbelievable. He would never bother the first slip and sometimes 2nd slip fielder and would take the catch himself. Was not much interested in batting, just keeping.
 
Rashid Latif was good but not even close to Bari, in keeping. Rashid was much better batsman though.
 
therealAB said:
Neither of them are particularly close tbh, Boucher especially was embarrassing vs Spin
From this century Jayawardene, Saha, Paine and more have been better than both
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I am talking about the ones in my lifetime. I started watching cricket from 1996.
 
Overall I know Allan Knott was considered the best but I am not sure of how much of this is just hype by a bias media. Little bits I have seen he certainly looks the best. Wasim Bari keep coming to mind but I cannot remember his keeping.

Since 1990 onwards, Jack Russell, Dhoni and Gilchrest spring to mind, but the later two maybe due to their batting not wicket keeping.

Rizwan may force his way into this elite group if he continues, his keeping really impressive.

Since Russell I dont feel England have had an above average keeper.
 
Long way to go for Rizwan but he has all the ingredients to become the best some day - just hopes he keeps his fitness going.
 
Ian Healy - 58 years old today

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&#55356;&#57295; 119 Tests and 168 ODIs<br>☝️ 628 international dismissals<br><br>Happy birthday to one of Australia's greatest wicket-keepers, Ian Healy &#55356;&#57218; <a href="https://t.co/J8UzYUUEsC">pic.twitter.com/J8UzYUUEsC</a></p>— ICC (@ICC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1520191257678594053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Pure wicket-keepers it’s a shootout between Rod Marsh, Alan Knott and Wasim Bari.

Ian Healy and Jeff Dujon - didn’t make many mistakes but weren’t spectacular.

Notable mention who didn’t quite fulfil his potential - Jack Russell who had all the ability but was too in to being quirky that he made some horrendous mistakes.
 
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