Standout keeper of the last decade or so

[iamdavid]

With all the talk of Matt Prior's forgetable series behind the sticks against India and the debate about keepers I thought this would be interesting.
Taking only keeping performance/prowess into account (ignore batting completely), who has been in your mind the standout keeper in international cricket....say from about 2000 onwards.

 

[pup11]

Gilly rules!!

I have voted for Gilly and in my book he is one of the best (if not the best) wicket-keeper batsman to ever have played the game.

 

[Richard]

Purely as a wicketkeeper, I'd have either Taibu or Boucher, of those who've played regularly.

Read, a bit-part player, is as good as either.

 

[The_Bunny]

Tough between Gilly and Sangakkarra.
Going Gilly, minor bias may be involved

Btw this is based only on the ones I have seen


Edit: Make that Boucher, didnt realise it was purely keeping

 

[Steulen]

Went for Boucher.

I haven't seen all those listed names play, but of the ones i have seen I think Chris Read and Mark Boucher have stood out.

Gilchrist had the misfortune of not keeping to his best ability when I saw most of him (last Sri Lanka away series, Ashes 2005) so I wouldn't put him in the same category as Read and Boucher.

Read is a fantastic keeper but there is one minor issue there with diving to his right side. There have been a few balls which went between him and 1st slip which might have been taken with a proper 'keeper's dive.

Therefore, Boucher is the man. Saw him on TV in a few series and have rarely seen him miss opportunities.

 

[chaminda_00]

Moin Khan, the best 'keeper' for mine.

 

[nightprowler10]

Between Boucher and Latif for me.

 

[open365]

Read from what i saw performed poorly with the gloves at international level, so i'm going with Adam Gilchrist who is imo under-rated in terms of keeping ability.

 

[Richard]

Between Boucher and Latif for me.

Latif was superlative most times, just like Jack Russell really.

... but then there was just that odd occasion when, for some totally inexplicable reason, they'd let a simple chance slip. I could never fathom why, in either case.

 

[Richard]

Read from what i saw performed poorly with the gloves at international level

Odd. Certainly in Tests, I've never had any great complaints with his glovework. Back in 2004, on 3 tricky pitches in West Indies, his keeping was almost faultless, and in his most recent incarnation in 2006 and 2006\07 all he really needed to do was simple stuff, which he did without difficulty. He did pretty well in Sri Lanka with the spin (in the first 2 Tests) in 2003\04 too.

 

[Matt79]

Gilly - consistently a good to very good keeper over the past decade - including keeping to Warne, MacGill, Hogg and guys like Tait.

 

[pup11]

Boucher never kept against good spin bowling so one can't say his keeping skills have been fully tested,he was not very comfortable keeping to Vettori and Murali during the Super test (IIRC).

 

[Sanz]

You forgot the Best Wicket Keeper of last decade. Nayan Mongia. On Wicket Keeping Skills alone, he was better than all those listed there. I never saw him drop anything or miss any stumping.

 

[Mahindinho]

Boucher for my vote, closely followed by Gilly and Sanga. A few years ago, I'd have rated Gilchrist as the better 'keeper, but now I think it's the other way around. Sangakkara has been immense of late, and is the sharpest stumper around.

Read is good, but I've not seen enough of him at Test level.

 

[aussie]

A Top 10 would be:

- Ian Healy
- Nayan Mongia
- Jack Russell
- Dave Richardson
- Adam Gilchrist
- Rashid Latif
- Mark Boucher
- Kumar Sangakkara
- Adam Parore
- Romesh Kaluwitharana

Damn, it took me almost 10 mins reasoning out this list, but thats how i would view it..
- Brendon McCullum
-

 

[haroon510]

Kumara sangakara

too bad he doesn't keep in test matches very often.. the guy is really good behind the stumps.
then Gilly and then Rashid latif and moin khan

 

[Mahindinho]

Kumara sangakara

too bad he doesn't keep in test matches very often.. the guy is really good behind the stumps.
then Gilly and then Rashid latif and moin khan

True -- he very much leads the fielding side (well, along with Mahela, anyway) and keeps very well indeed when he gets the chance.

The thing is, while his batting average when also keeping wicket is good, his average when he's in there purely as a batsman is excellent.

 

[haroon510]

we have to consider Murali's presence also when thinking about wicket keeping of Sri Lankan team. for that sort of bowling we need a keeper like Kumara sangakara. Quick with safe hands and one who leads the rest of the fielders.. he is just awsome

 

[Anil]

rashid latif in that list...adam parore, kumar sangakkara and mark boucher are pretty good as well, so is adam gilchrist...

 

[Richard]

^^^All in all, there's plenty enough evidence to suggest that wicketkeeping isn't really in a particularly poor state at all, isn't there?

Funny what some would have us believe.