Best keeper & piece of keeping you've seen at int'l or 1st class level?

[Burgey]

Following on from some discussions in the thread devoted to Warne's top 50 concerning the relative merits of Gilchrist and Healy, I'd like to get everyone's opinions on the following (with apologies if this is repetitive):

1. The best wicketkeeper you've seen at either 1st class or international level (from a purely wicketkeeping point of view, not batting and keeping); and

2. The best piece of individual keeping you have seen at those levels as well.

To get things started:

1. Ian Healy - great keeper both up to the stumps and standing back, closely shading Jack Russell for my money; and

2. Jack Russell's leg side stumping of Dean Jones at the SCG in 90-91 from the bowling of Gladstone Small (of all people). While Gladstone was not express, this piece of keeping was so fast and efficient that it took two or three replays for anyone to realise what had happened. At that time, very few keepers stood up to anyone above slow medium, so it was as audacious as it was brilliant and seamless.

Thoughts?

 

[honestbharani]

Following on from some discussions in the thread devoted to Warne's top 50 concerning the relative merits of Gilchrist and Healy, I'd like to get everyone's opinions on the following (with apologies if this is repetitive):

1. The best wicketkeeper you've seen at either 1st class or international level (from a purely wicketkeeping point of view, not batting and keeping); and

2. The best piece of individual keeping you have seen at those levels as well.

To get things started:

1. Ian Healy - great keeper both up to the stumps and standing back, closely shading Jack Russell for my money; and

2. Jack Russell's leg side stumping of Dean Jones at the SCG in 90-91 from the bowling of Gladstone Small (of all people). While Gladstone was not express, this piece of keeping was so fast and efficient that it took two or three replays for anyone to realise what had happened. At that time, very few keepers stood up to anyone above slow medium, so it was as audacious as it was brilliant and seamless.

Thoughts?

I reckon the best keeper I have seen was Healy too...


And to answer the second one, couple of leg side stumpings that Dinesh Karthik pulled off come to my mind immediately. One was of Vaughan in his debut one day match and that was an absolutely awesome piece of keeping simply because the ball turned a mile and a half down the leg side... And the other was on the first ball of the last day of the second test at Kolkata between India and Pak in 2005. He got Younis Khan first ball stumped down the leg side. Kumble fired one down the leg side and Younis tried to flick it away and just for a fraction of a second lost his balance and took his foot up and DK pulled off a great take and a greater stumping in a flash.... Set the momentum up for India to win that test on that day, IMO.

 

[Perm]

Mark Boucher pulled off two great pieces of wicket-keeping in the 2005 VB series, one was a leg-side stumping off Andrew Hall and the other was a flick at the stumps when he was appealing, looking directly at the umpire. I think the batsman in question was Marvan Atappatu.

 

[Raghav]

Brendon McCullum for his quick legs behind the stumps

 

[Richard]

Following on from some discussions in the thread devoted to Warne's top 50 concerning the relative merits of Gilchrist and Healy, I'd like to get everyone's opinions on the following (with apologies if this is repetitive):

1. The best wicketkeeper you've seen at either 1st class or international level (from a purely wicketkeeping point of view, not batting and keeping); and

2. The best piece of individual keeping you have seen at those levels as well.

To get things started:

1. Ian Healy - great keeper both up to the stumps and standing back, closely shading Jack Russell for my money; and

2. Jack Russell's leg side stumping of Dean Jones at the SCG in 90-91 from the bowling of Gladstone Small (of all people). While Gladstone was not express, this piece of keeping was so fast and efficient that it took two or three replays for anyone to realise what had happened. At that time, very few keepers stood up to anyone above slow medium, so it was as audacious as it was brilliant and seamless.

Thoughts?

Russell was unutterably frustrating - for all his brilliance in many cases, especially standing up, there were times when standing back (and standing back is in the vast majority of the time) he'd inexplicably spill a simple chance, the like of which Alec Stewart pretty much never did once he became an established wicketkeeper. Hence, I've always rated Healy the better gloveman of the two, though my experience of him is not extroardinarily extensive. From all reports, though (and I only saw him a few times before I really started getting seriously into cricket) Nayan Mongia was the best gloveman of the time, as he rarely dropped a thing standing back and was excellent standing-up.

The best piece of keeping I've seen, though, is undoubtedly Russell, in the C&G final of 1999, when he stumped Keith Parsons off Mike Smith (capable of 84-85mph).

 

[andyc]

2. Jack Russell's leg side stumping of Dean Jones at the SCG in 90-91 from the bowling of Gladstone Small (of all people). While Gladstone was not express, this piece of keeping was so fast and efficient that it took two or three replays for anyone to realise what had happened. At that time, very few keepers stood up to anyone above slow medium, so it was as audacious as it was brilliant and seamless.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=N2-UgWvUjPg

 

[The Sean]

I'd forgotten all about that, but it was a magical piece of work. I'd always thought Heals' legside stumping of Butcher off Bevo was just about the best I'd seen, but that was at least as good if not better.

One of cricket's most under rated glovemen, old Jack.

 

[Manee]

It only saved four runs and an extra ball but I have never seen a piece of keeping better than James Foster for Essex a few days ago. He was standing up to Ryan Ten Doeschate. Ten Doeschate bowled an 81mph ball way down the leg side and Foster managed to dive and catch the ball, it was an amazing piece of keeping, the reflexes and instincts must have been superhuman in that instance.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Russell is the best I've ever seen, hands down. Only saw him at the end of his career, but I've got this clip of his stumpings during Gloucestershire's one-day dominance at the end of the 90s, and I can't believe how good he is, time after time.We have a young lad at school (15) who keeps for the first team and standing up to the medium pacers (probably 55-60mph) he looks world-class. I can't even imagine what it would be like to someone 20mph quicker.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

One of cricket's most under rated glovemen, old Jack.

I wouldn't say he was underrated, just never given the praise he deserves because he was no keeper/batsman. He still played some brilliant innings for Gloucestershire and England though.

 

[The Sean]

I wouldn't say he was underrated, just never given the praise he deserves because he was no keeper/batsman. He still played some brilliant innings for Gloucestershire and England though.

Isn't never being given the praise you deserve very similar to being underrated?

 

[Swervy]

It only saved four runs and an extra ball but I have never seen a piece of keeping better than James Foster for Essex a few days ago. He was standing up to Ryan Ten Doeschate. Ten Doeschate bowled an 81mph ball way down the leg side and Foster managed to dive and catch the ball, it was an amazing piece of keeping, the reflexes and instincts must have been superhuman in that instance.

yes I saw that, it was spectacular

 

[Swervy]

Jack Russell was probably the keeper that has changed the way the opposition played the game in one day games that I saw. Once Jack stood up, teams invariably went into their shell, and quite often wickets started falling. He was critical to Gloucesters performances a few years back.

 

[Richard]

It wouldn't have been any use had the bowlers - the Harveys, Smiths and Lewises - had the skill to bowl with the required accuracy though.

Has it occurred to you, though, that they didn't "go" into their shells - that they were forced to by good bowling with wicketkeeping?

 

[Swervy]

It wouldn't have been any use had the bowlers - the Harveys, Smiths and Lewises - had the skill to bowl with the required accuracy though.

Has it occurred to you, though, that they didn't "go" into their shells - that they were forced to by good bowling with wicketkeeping?

yes it had occurred to me, and cricket is a team game, and a part of how one should rate a player is by how they fit in with that team. Russell complimented the bowling (and vice versa) brilliantly

 

[PhoenixFire]

Well the best keeper I have ever seen is probably someone like Boucher doing some crazy stumping down the legside in Australia.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Sangakkara stumping Vaughan in the WC off Vaas, don't think I've seen better live.

 

[Richard]

yes it had occurred to me, and cricket is a team game, and a part of how one should rate a player is by how they fit in with that team. Russell complimented the bowling (and vice versa) brilliantly

Ind33d. But wicketkeepers (as captains) are only as good as their bowlers; however, a good wicketkeeper can make a good bowler better.

 

[viktor]

Russell was unutterably frustrating - for all his brilliance in many cases, especially standing up, there were times when standing back (and standing back is in the vast majority of the time) he'd inexplicably spill a simple chance, the like of which Alec Stewart pretty much never did once he became an established wicketkeeper. Hence, I've always rated Healy the better gloveman of the two, though my experience of him is not extroardinarily extensive. From all reports, though (and I only saw him a few times before I really started getting seriously into cricket) Nayan Mongia was the best gloveman of the time, as he rarely dropped a thing standing back and was excellent standing-up.

The best piece of keeping I've seen, though, is undoubtedly Russell, in the C&G final of 1999, when he stumped Keith Parsons off Mike Smith (capable of 84-85mph).

Mongia was pretty good and especially to spinners he was just brilliant, imo.
However, overall maybe Healy was a little bit better. I never saw too much of Russell.

The wking piece I can remember at the moment was this catch Mongia took off Kumble in th 99WC. The batsman was going for a cut and there was a huge deflection and it was terrific work, all hands to glove the ball. Won him the best wkeeper of the WC or something, I think.

 

[JBMAC]

Unquestionably the best I have seen is ...Don Tallon

He perfected the tecnique of taking a ball on the return from the offside, slipping his leg back and making the motion of breaking the stumps all in one fluid motion.