Favourite Wick/Bats test innings?

[slowfinger]

Adam Gilchrist - 2nd Fastest Test 100

I stumbled across this today and was completely dumbstruck by this BLINDER of an innings, the variety of his shots and the consistency! I mean, I went to the nets, tried to hit 1 like Gilchrist, and found myself bowled, the man is a genius

What is your favourite innings by a Wicketkeeper Batsman?

[watson]

Kim Hughes' century (one of the greatest tons of all time after Aus were 3/8 in the first half hour) followed by Dennis Lillee's opening spell - AUS V WI, 1981.

1st Test: Australia v West Indies at Melbourne, Dec 26-30, 1981 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Dennis Lillee bowls Viv Richards - Boxing Day 1981 - YouTube

Note: My thanks to Tony Greig for the commentary on Richard's dismissal!

Kim Hughes 100* vs West Indies 1981/82 MCG GREAT INNINGS - YouTube

[Flametree]

In what universe is Kim Hughes a wicket-keeper?

(I sympathise that the title of the thread was fairly unclear... but the end of OP's first post said what he meant...)

[watson]

I took took 'Wick' to mean WICKet's by a bowler and 'Bats' to mean runs by a BATSman. Hence my nomination of Lillee and Hughes from the same match

It's just how my funny brain works. Obviously confused by short-hand. Incidently what's OP short for?

Enjoy the vids anyway as they can't hurt.

[Coronis]

Andy Flower's unbeaten 232 against India. Batted for 9 hours, with 30 fours and 2 sixes. Saved the test match for Zimbabwe, prevented a series whitewash, whilst scoring the highest ever innings by a wicketkeeper.

2nd Test: India v Zimbabwe at Nagpur, Nov 25-29, 2000 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Also watson, OP is short for opening post.

[Agent Nationaux]

Originally Posted by watson

I took took 'Wick' to mean WICKet's by a bowler and 'Bats' to mean runs by a BATSman. Hence my nomination of Lillee and Hughes from the same match

It's just how my funny brain works. Obviously confused by short-hand. Incidently what's OP short for?

Enjoy the vids anyway as they can't hurt.

Opening Post

[Chubb]

There's only one Andy Flower, and there was only one man who could score twin hundreds without support - well, alright, Ebrahim and Masakadza made 50s - after keeping wicket throughout an opposition innings of 600-3. That man will always be one of my heroes.

Love to see Gilchrist - who was a very good player - do that!

1st Test: Zimbabwe v South Africa at Harare, Sep 7-11, 2001 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo


One thing I love about this is when the first innings was over Flower asked Pollock if he would enforce the follow-on... Pollock said "yes" and Flower just said "Good.''

[cricmahanty]

I'll go with Adam Gilchrist's 149* in the Hobart test match of 1999/00 against Pakistan. Coming in at 5/126, Australia still had 243 runs to go in a fourth innings chase that saw Saqlain Mushtaq, in particular, from Pakistan bowl brilliantly.

Gilchrist swung the momentum of the game with his raw strokeplay. His 149 runs just took 160-odd balls. There was no escaping for Pakistan from this scathing late-order attack.

The psychological effect of that marvelous knock can be gauged from the fact that even some 7 test matches after that Hobart test match, Pakistan are yet to win a test match in Australia. (infact they've lost all 7 of those)

LOL !

[Daemon]

This just made me look at some of Dhoni's 80+ scores, and only 2-3 of them have come when India were in trouble. Most of them were when the top order had already put on 400. Dire tstl. Average flatters him. Wade probably a similar case.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by Daemon

This just made me look at some of Dhoni's 80+ scores, and only 2-3 of them have come when India were in trouble. Most of them were when the top order had already put on 400. Dire tstl. Average flatters him. Wade probably a similar case.

Nah not so for Wade. PEWS could've told you about the first though

[Daemon]

I can't really say I'm confident there was/is anyone else in Indian cricket who'd have done/can do a better job though. Needs to lose the captaincy though obv.

As for this thread, I personally rate some of Prior's rescue acts very highly. One of the most useful WK batsmen to have played in recent times.

[cricmahanty]

Originally Posted by Daemon

This just made me look at some of Dhoni's 80+ scores, and only 2-3 of them have come when India were in trouble. Most of them were when the top order had already put on 400. Dire tstl. Average flatters him. Wade probably a similar case.

His most notable contribution with the bat in test cricket, in my opinion, would be the match-saving effort at Lords' back in 2007. I can't recall how many runs he scored in that innings but to hang on with the tail (with help from the weather and partly from the umpires) was an effort very commendable indeed.

Had he not stuck around that fine day, India's last test series win in England would still have been 1986.

Overall, he's obviously not a test batsman by any stretch of imagination. The average is massively inflated due to being not out, scoring quick runs etc. in lost causes.

If I'd to pick an all-time India XI, I'd have Engineer or Kunderan as my wicket-keeper.

[kyear2]

Don't know about favorite, but among the most important are the Gilchrist 149 vs Pakistan that kicked started his career, establishing his legacy and changed permanently how we look at keepers and Clyde Walcott's 168 in 1950, that establied the West Indies as a potential world power.

[Bahnz]

From a kiwi perspective, you can't top Parore's 100 against McGrath, Warne, Gillespie and Lee in 2001. Just a sublime innings.

[JBMAC]

While I did not see the game or even footage of same, contemporary reports show this match
HowSTAT! Match Scorecard as one of Engineer's finest. A fine gloveman/Opener