Best 'Keeper In T' World (nothing to do with batting ability)

[PY]

Whipped from another thread, didn't think it was suitable for the Drafting Thread

Originally posted by Mr Mxyzptlk
For my money...

Hart
Taibu
Patel/Read
Latif
Boucher
Jacobs
Sangakarra/Gilchrist

I would controversially rate Jacobs above Gilchrist and Sangakarra, because although his style I unorthodox, he's a solid
'keeper who has taken some superb catches in his tenure.

Haven't even heard of Hart as a good keeper let alone the best at the moment in the international scene.

I thought of Taibu and Read above Boucher but the others I haven't seen for a while. Latif didn't impress me that much though when I saw him against Akhtar and Sami, didn't seem to have good footwork which IMO is essential

[PY]

Hope you don't mind but I just quoted it because it seemed quite relevant.

Originally posted by JohnnyA
For our purposes though, keepers are just batters who have put on the gloves a requiste number of times.

As for pure keeping ... I'd like to see a few of those guys keep to a top class spinner.

Keeping is over-rated IMHO. It shouldn't really be that difficult catching the ball with those huge gloves on. It's about consistency, concentration, and not making mistakes. This is why I consider Stewart a better keeper than Jack Russell. Jack might have been the better "pure" keeper in terms of what he could do. But he made too many stupid gaffes. Stewart was Mr Consistency for England. Caught all the easy ones, snagged the odd blinder, and was consistently Englands second best batter for the last 5 years (first behind Thorpe, then behind Vaughn). Stewie was priceless ... and England just let him go ... UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

It was a disgrace that he was hounded out of the job by the press and supposed experts (Botham is such a w*****r). Hell, if he were a catcher in baseball with his kind of offensive capabilities with the bat, he'd have been offered a 3-4 year $25-30 million contract (at least) ... despite being 40 yrs old!!!! He perfectly balanced the England team ... now they look like sh*t. Cricket is such a backward game sometimes.

[JohnnyA]

NP ...

I was thinking of starting my own "BRING BACK ALEC STEWART" thread. It's pretty clear to everyone he wanted to keep playing indefintely.

I don't care if Chris Read can do sommersaults. I want to see lot's of 50's and 100's from my WK.

To paraphrase myself, a WK should be able to: catch all the easy ones, snag to odd blinder, and score me consistent runs ... otherwise they're a luxury.

[Langeveldt]

Jack Russell

[marc71178]

Originally posted by JohnnyA
I don't care if Chris Read can do sommersaults. I want to see lot's of 50's and 100's from my WK.

You predominantly watch One Day Cricket I guess.

[PY]

Originally posted by JohnnyA
I don't care if Chris Read can do sommersaults. I want to see lot's of 50's and 100's from my WK.

I know Chris Read is unlikely to be as good a batter as Alec Stewart but I think he has a pretty good head on his shoulders when it comes to batting. And he doesn't need to worry about his keeping because he's pretty darn good at that.

I won't have a bad word said about Jack Russell!!!He's my hero. Quality keeper, average bat and a scruffy tramp . He's like an extra fielder during OD games. Being able to stand up to the wicket gives Alleyne so many more options.

[luckyeddie]

Stewart achieved the rank of 'adequate' as a keeper, IMO - better than Gilchrist with the gloves but oh, not very good really.

To classify him as a better keeper than Russell is completely laughable.

Taibu has the basic speed of thought, anticipation and remarkable footwork to become very good indeed.

A top-notch keeper in my mind starts with 10-20 runs anyway - his value to the side in reducing byes to nearly zero, cutting out some of the leg-byes, picking up more catches, being able to prevent batsmen from going down the track to medium-pacers by standing up to the wicket and just generally doing his job to the highest standards.

Bob Taylor could stand up to Mike Hendrick easily - the best keeper I've seen in my lifetime (although Knott wasn't far behind). All others I judge by his standards. If Taylor gets a 9.5 and Knott 9, Russell would certainly be an 8 and Stewart maybe 6.5 (with 5 being county standard).

[Mr. P]

After seeing Zimbabwe tour Australia, i am pretty sure that Taibu is the worlds best keeper. He was very solid, hardly put a foot wrong. I thought he was brilliant.

[JohnnyA]

Originally posted by marc71178
You predominantly watch One Day Cricket I guess.

What does that mean?

For your information I NEVER watch the 1 day stuff. It bores the hell out of me.

[Rik]

I know he will never play Test cricket (and at the moment isn't even playing FC cricket) but Andy Pratt of Durham is the best keeper I've seen. Taibu looks good but his height or lack of it gives him problems and he wasn't amazing in England. But then, he did better than Boucher who had a shocker. Quality keeper, just not in England.

[JohnnyA]

Originally posted by luckyeddie
Stewart achieved the rank of 'adequate' as a keeper, IMO - better than Gilchrist with the gloves but oh, not very good really.

To classify him as a better keeper than Russell is completely laughable.

Taibu has the basic speed of thought, anticipation and remarkable footwork to become very good indeed.

A top-notch keeper in my mind starts with 10-20 runs anyway - his value to the side in reducing byes to nearly zero, cutting out some of the leg-byes, picking up more catches, being able to prevent batsmen from going down the track to medium-pacers by standing up to the wicket and just generally doing his job to the highest standards.

Bob Taylor could stand up to Mike Hendrick easily - the best keeper I've seen in my lifetime (although Knott wasn't far behind). All others I judge by his standards. If Taylor gets a 9.5 and Knott 9, Russell would certainly be an 8 and Stewart maybe 6.5 (with 5 being county standard).

Jacky was WAAAAYYYY overratted. I've watched practically every test series since Austrailia in 1989. He played his whole career in that time. He wasn't very good up at the stumps. He dropped lots of catches he should have took, especially to the spinners.

He stood too far back behind the stumps, therefore a lot of catches which he should have been able to catch went begging.

Keeping is about results, not about what they look like. Russell didn't get results. Stewie on the other hand did.

Ian Heally is te best WK I've seen in the period since 1989. He could do it all. He always caught the important catches, and he kept brilliantly to both spinners and the fast men.

[luckyeddie]

Originally posted by JohnnyA
Jacky was WAAAAYYYY overratted. I've watched practically every test series since Austrailia in 1989. He played his whole career in that time. He wasn't very good up at the stumps. He dropped lots of catches he should have took, especially to the spinners.

He stood too far back behind the stumps, therefore a lot of catches which he should have been able to catch went begging.

Keeping is about results, not about what they look like. Russell didn't get results. Stewie on the other hand did.

Ian Heally is te best WK I've seen in the period since 1989. He could do it all. He always caught the important catches, and he kept brilliantly to both spinners and the fast men.

First three points - total and utter cobblers. You have already made your point regarding what you think about keepers - 'largely overrated'.
Fourth point - fair comment.
Jusat said that to prove that I read your reply.

[age_master]

i would say Taibu at the moment, he has looked very good every time i have seen him keep

[Anna]

Jack Russell, Alec Stewart & Adam Gilchrist

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally posted by PY
Haven't even heard of Hart as a good keeper let alone the best at the moment in the international scene.

Hart is picked as a specialist 'keeper and he was very sound for it when NZ toured the West Indies.