[ad_1]
In the English summer of 1990 when Kieran More dropped a regulation catch to Graham Gooch at Lord’s, the England captain made the visitors pay by going on to score 333 runs. This was one of the famous cases when a wicket-keeper’s mistake caused the side to lose badly.
However, despite his falls, Moore was a decent glove man and belonged to a generation of goalkeepers whose ability with great gloves came before their striking prowess.
“In the 1980s and 1990s the term was wicketkeeper-batsman, someone who was excellent behind the wicket and could bat a bit. Geoff Dugon, Rodney Marsh, Jack Russell, Alan Knott, Wasim Parry, Syed Kermani,” recalls former Pakistani wicket-taker Rashid Latif to The Indian Express.
However, as the game developed, teams “favored bouncers who could bat well. Recently, the trend has come to such an extent that batsmen who can carry on in red-ball cricket are selected. Rather than being called wicketkeeper-batsman,” Latif said , the term should be the wicketkeeper’s bat”.
Find Gilchrist next
The Australian legend is arguably the greatest cricket batskeeper has ever seen. He was in order behind the stumps and was a prolific scorer with the bat. When he goes into the seventh, he can take the match out of the opponent in one sitting. He was one of the main pillars upon which the foundation of the success of that great Australian side was built.
But since his retirement, Australia couldn’t find anyone like him, but parties that had suffered at his hands began looking for a similar player.
Scoring 5,570 runs at an average of 47.6 from 96 Tests which Gilchrist took is a tall order for first-class batsmen. Players such as Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum and AB de Villiers, who were prolific with the bat and maintained white-ball formats, were reluctant to continue with Tests in order to focus more on batting. Managing both the ‘save’ and hitting at a high level is a daunting task for any player. South African former Test-keeper Quinton de Kock and Rishabh Pant reached Gilchrist-like criteria, but the sample size is too small to make any judgment.
Reserve keepers
In the ongoing Ashes, England decided to go with Jonny Bairstow on the argument that he was a better batsman than Ben Foakes. “Foakes is the best wicket-keeper in the world. He’s only played 20 Tests. Jonny Bairstow is nowhere close to Foakes. Bairstow will keep dropping catches, but Foakes won’t get a chance,” Latif said.
Bairstow dropped regulations caught and missed minor catches in the series so far, but England decided to carry on with him in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford. Errors behind the stumps may have affected the outcome of the matches.
Bairstow was great with the bat last year and is the poster boy for Bazball. He scored 1,061 runs at an average of 66.31, but did not keep wicket at that time. Foakes was the designated goalkeeper at the time but due to developments such as the arrival of Harry Brook he found himself out of the team.
Bairstow’s average drops to 36.43 when he holds and was 23.50 from the Ashes series. It was evident by now that he was finding it difficult to handle both responsibilities.
India, too, seemed to have taken a similar route in the first Test against the West Indies by handing their debut to Ishan Kishan. The 25-year-old hardly does any glove work in domestic cricket but is a more attacking option with the bat than KS Bharat. The latter looked technically sound in English conditions in the final of the WTC and was effective at home against Australia on the rank-and-filers, but his batting fell short. He got a few starts but threw the wicket wide.
Kishan is the best batsman who provides the counter punch needed by the team, but the question remains whether he is good enough behind the stumps.
Against a batsmen as weak as the West Indies, his retention skills may not come under much scrutiny even if he misses a few chances. His correct test will be against South Africa later this year and against England at home. It will also be interesting to see if ‘holding him’ affects his hitting forward or will he be able to split both sides of his game or have a drop in standards like Bairstow?
ridicule him
The Australians themselves turned away in search of the next Gilchrist. Instead, they stuck to the traditional ways and found success. After Gilchrist, Australia returned to players who were good keeper first.
“The Australians know how to run cricket. You see Ian Healy was there, then Gilchrist came on, then Brad Hadden, then Alex Carey,” Latif said.
This has paid off for them over the years and it works so far as they are current WTC winners and go 2-1 in their away series in England.
Carey was ahead of the stumps, unlike Bairstow. Lord’s controversial bewilderment is one of those moments that showed his awareness and his sharpness in the game. His work behind the stumps was top-notch in both England and India earlier this year globally.
“There’s a reason world cricket dominates. Consistency is key. They have a system and they stick to it.” Nice concluded.
[ad_2]
