Best South African Wicketkeeper batsman

[capt_Luffy]

Who is the best South African Wicketkeeper batsman? Here, I virtually included everyone with a claim; with pre WWI stalwarts Percy Sherwell, Ernest Halliwell and Tommy Ward; between wars prodigies Jock Cameron and Billy Wade; 50s and 60s folk hero- John Waite, the destroyer of Australia- Denis Lindsay, isolation victims Andre Bruyns and probably the finest pure glovesman Ray Jennings, post 90s dependable Dave Richardson, the all time record holder of both most dismissals and appearances- Mark Boucher, his unlucky understudy- Nic Pothas, South Africa's 4th finest batsman who gave up gloves after 23 matches- A B de Villiers, and modern great Quinton de Kock. Oh, and two keepers to basically gave up gloves very quickly- Russell Endean and Lee Irvine.

 

[trundler]

Waite was at good as Knott

 

[Archer6K]

Cameron, Lindsay and Waite are probably top three, Ray Jennings was unlucky to never play a Test.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Cameron, Lindsay and Waite are probably top three, Ray Jennings was unlucky to never play a Test.

I think de Kock is close to them. Boucher.... He had crazy longevity, but I am not sure whether I will say he is in the same tier.

 

[Coronis]

Who is the best South African Wicketkeeper batsman? Here, I virtually included everyone with a claim; with pre WWI stalwarts Percy Sherwell, Ernest Halliwell and Tommy Ward; between wars prodigies Jock Cameron and Billy Wade; 50s and 60s folk hero- John Waite, the destroyer of Australia- Denis Lindsay, isolation victims Andre Bruyns and probably the finest pure glovesman Ray Jennings, post 90s dependable Dave Richardson, the all time record holder of both most dismissals and appearances- Mark Boucher, his unlucky understudy- Nic Pothas, South Africa's 4th finest batsman who gave up gloves after 23 matches- A B de Villiers, and modern great Quinton de Kock. Oh, and two keepers to basically gave up gloves very quickly- Russell Endean and Lee Irvine.

Debatable.

 

[capt_Luffy]

Debatable.

Yeah, it's debatable.

 

[Kenneth Viljoen]

I would give AB the gloves in an all time South African Test XI

 

[capt_Luffy]

I would give AB the gloves in an all time South African Test XI

Actually, I would probably too. That way, I could accommodate Shaun Pollock/Dudley Nourse into the team. He was a fine glovesman and was one of the rare few players to give up gloves who actually managed an even better average while keeping.

 

[honestbharani]

AB did it long enough for me to vote for him.

 

[kyear2]

Jock Cameron, ridiculously underrated from all I've read

 

[Coronis]

AB did it long enough for me to vote for him.

You mean for 20 matches over a couple of years?

 

[Silver Silva]

You mean for 20 matches over a couple of years?

Basically career of Graeme Pollock who is a must pick in any serious SA All time XI

 

[Coronis]

Basically career of Graeme Pollock who is a must pick in any serious SA All time XI

Clear difference in context and circumstances but feel free to ignore that.

note: not saying I wouldn’t pick AB in my ATG SA XI and have him keep (I would) but I wouldn’t call him the greatest SA keeper bat. Similar to Walcott for the Windies.

 

[Silver Silva]

Clear difference in context and circumstances but feel free to ignore that.

note: not saying I wouldn’t pick AB in my ATG SA XI and have him keep (I would) but I wouldn’t call him the greatest SA keeper bat. Similar to Walcott for the Windies.

No need to get so aggressive end of the day amount of matches isn't the issue, ABD was great at pretty much everything he can be accommodated

 

[Coronis]

No need to get so aggressive end of the day amount of matches isn't the issue, ABD was great at pretty much everything he can be accommodated

The aggression bar keeps getting lower and lower too apparently.

 

[Prince EWS]

Waite was at good as Knott

Yeah Waite is one of the most under-rated players ever IMO. Absolute gun who was a long way ahead of everyone else on this poll.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Meanwhile BJW, Prior, and Andy Flower were born there too.

 

[Coronis]

Meanwhile BJW, Prior, and Andy Flower were born there too.

Seems SA is always gonna be the “what could have been” country of cricket.

 

[ashley bach]

Anyone with the initials AB usually ends up the winner.

 

[peterhrt]

A difficult one. Best wicket-keepers may have been Jennings and Cameron, though the latter's keeping fell away when he was captain. There was also AJS 'Tich' Smith, named in Mike Procter's South African team of the 1970s.

Roy McLean reckoned Waite was good behind the stumps but not in the Evans class. A sound enough batting technique to go up the order in a tough era. Lindsay had one great series.

Halliwell was English. Sherwell went to school in England and turned out for Cornwall.

Endean, like de Villiers, was a fantastic all-round fieldsman who could also keep. Irvine's main role, like de Kock's, was as an attacking left-handed bat. Boucher is a long-standing servant of South African cricket.

Going strictly by the title of the thread, Cameron or Waite might win. For an all-time XI there is the temptation to give the job to de Villiers, in that he is close to the side as a batsman. Not sure how good his keeping really was.