That might be a reason why Boucher is better. Perhaps he didn't five as much because he was already in the right spot. Still - results count now both are retired.Gilchrist took a large number of spectacular diving catches off quicks, and I can't ever remember him dropping a catch or missing a stumping. Though it could be that the Aussies created enough opportunities that the misses don't stick in the mind.
Probably didn't watch the ashes 2005?Gilchrist took a large number of spectacular diving catches off quicks, and I can't ever remember him dropping a catch or missing a stumping. Though it could be that the Aussies created enough opportunities that the misses don't stick in the mind.
Gilchrist took a large number of spectacular diving catches off quicks, and I can't ever remember him dropping a catch or missing a stumping. Though it could be that the Aussies created enough opportunities that the misses don't stick in the mind.
That wasn't his greatest series, but it's easy to forget that Gilchrist made a few mistakes when the other wicketkeeper on display that series was Geraint Jones.Probably didn't watch the ashes 2005?
Unless it covers all dropped catches, miss-stumpings & the difficultly of these chances, keeping stats don't really tell us anything at all.Having a look at their fielding summaries, I can not see how one can rate Boucher better, except if they put a lot of weight in length of career - however this is unfair to gilly as he had to wait a long time for Healy to move out of the way.
Gilly has more dismissals per innings, a much more consistant year to year, and in all places performance. In fact, the guy hardly varied from his career 2.178 dismissals per innings. Boucher at 1.975 is hardly far off, yet he varies more, particularly in Oceana.
Of course, this is only basing it on dismissals. I don't know how to see how they fared stopping byes and all that stuff.
For the entirety of Gilly's career Boucher's team was almost as good as Australia. He also kept to great bowlers so it is not as if he was unlucky to keep to dross (though spin was obviously an advantage for Gilly)
Purely stats based, Gilly has a good case for being the best keeper ever. Others may look nicer but his results were as good as you get from a keeper.
Again, not a great measure because you need to consider the bowling attack again...Gilly was top shelf. Ridiculous to even consider him not amongst the finest keepers. Just because he was a weapon with the bat doesn't mean he wasn't worth his place purely on his glovework. His work to Warne and MacGill was polished. He was so good standing up he even has an ODI stumping off McGrath. He very rarely missed a chance standing up against two great spinners could could turn it square.
Standing back he was also excellent. Being tall and a good mover he got to some catches others wouldn't even have a crack at. He could get up to higher balls than Healy ever would have reached. Just covered a larger area than almost any other keeper, and he had great hands. All keepers make mistakes, same as even the greatest batsmen have failures, but Gilly's seem to be remembered more by some and Heals' forgotten.
You can't find stats for catches taken/chances etc, and there's no stat to judge the difficulty of chances. But there is one stat that gives an imperfect, but handy indication of how tidy a keeper is - byes conceded.
Gilly conceded 610 byes in his test career of 96454 balls keeping. That's 6.32 byes per 1000 balls. In comparison Healy was a bit tidier at 6.03 byes per 1000 balls. If Healy was better than Gilly then this is a pretty accurate measure of how much (ie sweet **** all).
And Boucher? Without having to keep to great spinners his byes/1000 balls is 6.69. Very good, but not quite top shelf. Bouch was a very good keeper, but Gilly was a bit better.
(to give you a larger comparison the top 9 keepers by dismissals)
- Boucher 6.69
- Gilchrist 6.32
- Healy 6.03
- Marsh 6.13
- Dhoni 7.89 (probably can be partly forgiven due to the amount of home tests, but also not really absolute top shelf)
- Haddin 9.90 (probably a fair indication that he wasn't top class)
- Dujon 10.01 (see Haddin)
- Knott 4.15 (which helps explain to those who never saw him why he is considered the best pure keeper by many many good judges)
- Prior 9.65 (see Haddin and Dujon)
So I think the byes/1000 balls stat gives a pretty handy indicator of keeping quality. But like I said it's imperfect - Matt Wade is at 6.45!
Is your name John Snow?I know during the era, Boucher was seen as the very best glovesman playing at the time.
I'm glad you raised this stat, as it conveniently proves a long held belief of mine...........that Jonny Bairstow averaging 2.26 dismissals per innings is clearly better than both of these blokesGilly has more dismissals per innings, a much more consistant year to year, and in all places performance. In fact, the guy hardly varied from his career 2.178 dismissals per innings. Boucher at 1.975 is hardly far off, yet he varies more, particularly in Oceana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17eDpfqCSX8Gilchrist was actually pretty average when he started out iirc, had a rough first Ashes in particular. But by the end he was pretty close to flawless, and imo was probably a tad more athletic behind the stumps than Boucher.