The Grand Wicky

[Loony BoB]

Who do you think would be the best wicket keeper in the history of each country? And, of course, who is the best wicket keeper the world has ever seen? And, for the older people, how often have you seen this topic being made over the years?

And I don't mean keeper-batsmen, I'm talking about how good they are with the gloves.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Wicketkeeper or wicketkeeper-batsman or batsman-wicketkeeper?

If purely on 'keeping skills, I'd shudder to see the expected votes for Gilchrist anyway.

 

[Loony BoB]

Purely keeping, please. *goes to edit first post*

 

[PY]

Who do you think would be the best cricketer in the history of each country? And, of course, who is the best wicket keeper the world has ever seen? And, for the older people, how often have you seen this topic being made over the years?

I've only been here 18 months and I've pretty much seen all of them but doesn't stop me from getting involved.

England : Alan Knott
Australia : Ian Healy
South Africa : Mark Boucher
New Zealand : Ian Smith
West Indies : Jeff Dujon

Wouldn't like to say on any of the others because I don't know enough about olden days etc.

Mine is done on 'keeping skills and who I've actually seen coverage on these guys so obviously it could be a pile of steaming crap.

 

[Adamc]

Taibu I say. I'm not old enough to have seen many good 'keepers though.

 

[PY]

Now it has changed to the best cricketer of all time? Jesus man, make your mind up.

*goes to edit post*

 

[Loony BoB]

Now it has changed to the best cricketer of all time? Jesus man, make your mind up.

*goes to edit post*

I don't know what you're talking about. *whistles*

 

[luckyeddie]

England only:

1. Bob Taylor
2. Les Ames
3. Godfrey Evans
4. Alan Knott

in that precise order. Knott was much better as a keeper-batsman, but Taylor is by a military mile the greatest keeper I have ever seen. Les Ames gets in there in second place because when I was a child, everyone told me how great he was (and I used to buy glasses of pop from his shop for a penny)

 

[Loony BoB]

New Zealand : Ian Smith

Was he a better gloveman than Parore? I imagine he might have been a better batsman and certainly a better personality and all round good guy, but not so sure he out-performed Parore behind the wicket.

 

[Andre]

England: I'll back Eddie, but Jack Russell was mighty fine.
Australia: Don Tallon.
Zimbabwe: Wayne James.
West Indies: Jeff Dujon.
New Zealand: Ian Smith.
South Africa: David Richardson.
India: Syed Kirmani.
Pakistan: Rashid Latif.
Sri Lanka: Prasana Jayawardene.

 

[Arjun]

Australia: Rod Marsh, Ian Healy
England: Alan Knott, Jack Russel
India: Budhi Kunderan, Kirmani, Engineer, Kiran More, Nayan Mongia
New Zealand: Ian Smith, Adam Parore
Pakistan: Rashid Latif
South Africa: David Richardson
Sri Lanka: Romesh, Prasanna
West Indies: Dereyck Murray

 

[PommieMacGill]

Yep, I agree with Eddie and I would say, although i only saw him towards the very end of his career, Bob Taylor was the best keeper I have seen.

 

[tooextracool]

South Africa: David Richardson

great keeper.....it was pretty funny when he got his first stumping on the verge of retirment though.

 

[a massive zebra]

England: Bob Taylor
Australia: Don Tallon
West Indies: Jackie Hendricks
New Zealand: Adam Parore
South Africa: Mark Boucher
India: Syed Kirmani
Pakistan: Wasim Bari
Sri Lanka: Amal Silva
Zimbabwe: Tatenda Taibu
Bangladesh: Khaled Mashud

Best Ever: Don Tallon

 

[Langeveldt]

South Africa - David Richardson
West Indies - Jeffrey Dujon
Zimbabwe - Tatenda Taibu
Australia - Ian Healy
England - Jack Russell

 

[luckyeddie]

Yep, I agree with Eddie and I would say, although i only saw him towards the very end of his career, Bob Taylor was the best keeper I have seen.

The greatest moment for me (emotionally) was when he was conducting some business trip or other at Lord's in 1986.

Bruce French got injured and couldn't continue. When New Zealand batted, who trotted out as substitute fielder to a huge roar? None other than Bob Taylor - 3 years after he'd retired. He just 'happened to have his gloves and whites in the car boot - just in case'.

He was impeccable, never missed a ball in his half hour cameo and so nearly pulled off a leg-side stumping.

 

[roseboy64]

West Indies: Jackie Hendriks,Jeff Dujon
Bangladesh: Khaled Mashud
Zimbabwe: Tatenda Taibu
New Zealand: Mark Richardson

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

IMO Jeffrey Dujon was a fine wk-batsman, but not at all the finest wicketkeeper the Caribbean has produced.

My picks are Deryck Murray and Franz Alexander (one of the most overlooked keepers and captains in cricket history). Ridley Jacobs is also an under-rated wicketkeeper.

 

[badgerhair]

England only:

1. Bob Taylor
2. Les Ames
3. Godfrey Evans
4. Alan Knott

in that precise order. Knott was much better as a keeper-batsman, but Taylor is by a military mile the greatest keeper I have ever seen. Les Ames gets in there in second place because when I was a child, everyone told me how great he was (and I used to buy glasses of pop from his shop for a penny)

Taylor is the best I've seen too, but that's because I'm not old enough to have seen Keith Andrew, who is the wicketkeeper on whom Taylor modelled himself and was regarded by everyone who saw him as the nonpareil of wicketkeepers.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[luckyeddie]

Taylor is the best I've seen too, but that's because I'm not old enough to have seen Keith Andrew, who is the wicketkeeper on whom Taylor modelled himself and was regarded by everyone who saw him as the nonpareil of wicketkeepers.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike :

He totally slipped my mind. My dad always said that he was good, but I never saw him play (well, perhaps I did, dragged along kicking and screaming to see Kent in the early to mid 1960's).

I just looked up his profile page on Cricinfo and it's remarkably unflattering, describing him as 'competent'. That means very little, though, as I suspect that many profiles are written after first looking at the stats - and Keith Andrew didn't seem to be a batsman of any stature at all and it may be that which has 'clouded judgement'.