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Test wicketkeepers: Everything you wanted to know about

Ranting :
Posted: Sep 03, 2012

Test wicketkeepers: inarguably the players with the toughest task in cricket. They have to be on their toes for hours on end, go down and up a million times a day, cannot afford to relax even for a minute, always have an eye on what is happening to the ball and nowadays are expected to bat for hours and/or score runs quickly. And some of these keepers are expected to captain their teams and/or open the batting. Why would anyone take up this tough task? This article is a homage to those tough men.

 

This is one long article and has taken nearly two weeks. Please take time to peruse all tables and come back with your comments. The effort I have put in would be nullified if readers do not give this the time it deserves. And please, no comments that all this information is available in StatsGuru. All the information is not available, would require many queries to get the information, the information would not be in the form of readable tables, there is no ratings work done and so on.

 

In order to get a reasonable number into the analysis set, I lowered my initial qualification criterion of 100 dismissals to 75. 48 keepers qualify and this seems to be a fair number. On an average this represents a lower limit of 20-30 Tests, which is a Test career between 3 and 5 years.

 

1. Total Dismissals (All tables current upto Test 2054 (Ind-Nzl First Test))

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests Dismissals
Boucher M.V Saf 1997 2012 147 555
Gilchrist Aus 1999 2008 96 416
Healy I.A Aus 1988 1999 119 395
Marsh R.W Aus 1970 1984 96 355
Dujon P.J.L Win 1981 1991 79 270
Knott A.P.E Eng 1967 1981 95 269
Stewart A.J Eng 1990 2003 81 241
Wasim Bari Pak 1967 1984 80 228
Dhoni M.S Ind 2005 2012 67 220
Evans T.G Eng 1946 1959 91 219
Jacobs R.D Win 1998 2004 65 218
Kamran Akmal Pak 2002 2010 53 206
Parore A.C Nzl 1990 2002 67 200

 


This is the base table and is ordered on the number of Dismissals. This is not just a longevity based achievement. To play over 100 matches, as a top-flight keeper, is something incredible and has to be recognized. An important fact to be noted is that the number of Tests shown are the Tests in which the players played as wicketkeepers. For two players, Sangakkara and Alec Stewart, this distinction is significant since they have played a number of Tests as batsmen. Andy Flower and Parore have also played a few Tests as batsmen. This table lists the keepers who effected over 200 dismissals.

The table is topped by the peerless South African keeper, Boucher, and then come three top keepers from Australia. Dujon follows next and then Knott. The top-10 is rounded off by Bari and Dhoni.

Readers are likely to come in with comments that the misses by keepers are not included. This is true because the data is not available. Cricinfo might have the data for the past few years or so but not for over 75% of the Tests. And I will not make any guess-work. My analysis is based 100% on the available verifiable data.

 

2. Dismissals per Test

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests C-St Dismissals/Test
Gilchrist Aus 1999 2008 96 416 4.33
Browne C.O Win 1995 2005 20 81 4.05
Jones G.O Eng 2004 2006 34 133 3.91
Kamran Akmal Pak 2002 2010 53 206 3.89
Haddin B.J Aus 2008 2012 43 164 3.81
Boucher M.V Saf 1997 2012 147 555 3.78
Langley Aus 1951 1956 26 98 3.77
Richardson Saf 1992 1998 41 152 3.71
Marsh R.W Aus 1970 1984 96 355 3.70
...
Ames L.E.G Eng 1929 1939 44 95 2.16
Khaled Mashud Bng 2000 2007 44 87 1.98
Engineer Ind 1961 1975 46 82 1.78

 


This is a performance measure. Dismissals per Test is a very important parameter to measure the keepers' contribution to the team. Only two keepers have effected more than 4 dismissals per Test, which works out an average of 30% of the team dismissals. Readers might argue that the bowlers create the opportunities for dismissals. However that is only partly true. The keepers have to gauge the bounce and stand in the correct position and posture. It is my belief that only one-in-three catches travel straight to the keepers. The other two have to be caught well. Anyhow 4+ dismissals per Test goes a long way in influencing the result in the team's favour. 3.06 is the overall average.

In the top-9 keepers, Langley, with a figure of 3.77 belongs to the 1950s and Marsh, with 3.70, belongs to the 1970s. The others all are current or recently retired. Why I wonder. More opportunities? better techniques?

At the other end, we have Ames from way back, Khaled Mashud and Engineer. The last two have fewer than 2 dismissals per Test. Why should Engineer's numbers be so low, almost matching the numbers of top slip fielders. Possibly many of the spinners' wickets would have been effected through catches to close fielders, rather than keeper.

 

3. Dismissals as % of similar team dismissals

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests C-St Team CSt Dismissals %
Alexander Win 1957 1961 25 90 201 44.8
Kamran Akmal Pak 2002 2010 53 206 466 44.2
Langley Aus 1951 1956 26 98 239 41.0
Saleem Yousuf Pak 1982 1990 31 104 259 40.2
Browne C.O Win 1995 2005 20 81 206 39.3
Rashid Latif Pak 1992 2003 37 130 335 38.8
Richardson Saf 1992 1998 41 152 397 38.3
Gilchrist Aus 1999 2008 96 416 1115 37.3
Imtiaz Ahmed Pak 1952 1962 38 90 242 37.2
...
Ames L.E.G Eng 1929 1939 44 95 351 27.1
Kaluwitharana Slk 1992 2004 48 119 450 26.4
Engineer Ind 1961 1975 46 82 388 21.1

 


This is a nice-to-view table and is not used in any Ratings work. Alexander of West Indies had a hand in 44% of his team's similar dismissals. And look at Kamran Akmal: he has had a hand in over 44% of his team dismissals. That is something. Saleem Yousuf has a similar 40-plus % figure. Gilchrist makes it to the top-10, with an impressive figure of 37.2%. One-third seems to be the overall average.

At the other end, Engineer clocks in with a very low 21.1%, as expected.

 

4. Byes/Test

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests Byes Byes/Test
Downton P.R Eng 1981 1988 30 84 2.8
Richardson Saf 1992 1998 41 143 3.5
Khaled Mashud Bng 2000 2007 44 152 3.5
Smith I.D.S Nzl 1980 1992 63 257 4.1
Parore A.C Nzl 1990 2002 67 291 4.3
Knott A.P.E Eng 1967 1981 95 422 4.4
Flower A Zim 1992 2002 55 250 4.5
Jacobs R.D Win 1998 2004 65 297 4.6
Taylor R.W Eng 1971 1984 57 285 5.0
...
Murray D.L Win 1963 1980 62 653 10.5
Saleem Yousuf Pak 1982 1990 31 332 10.7
Ames L.E.G Eng 1929 1939 44 470 10.7

 


The Byes per Test is a measure of the keeping quality. Somewhat indirectly, would it also have a correlation with the chances missed? Downton is somewhere in the stratosphere with an average of only 2.8 byes per Test. Richardson, the current CEO of ICC, also has a very low figure of 3.5, matched by Khaled Mashud. A few other not-so-well-known keepers have low byes/Test figures of around 5.0. 7.0 byes/match seems to be an above average performance level. 6.9 byes/match is the overall average.

The last three have all conceded more than 10 byes per Test. Ames probably has a high figure because of the way England bowled during the 1930s.

 

5. Stumping %

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests C-St Stumpings St %
Oldfield Aus 1920 1937 53 130 52 40.0
Ames L.E.G Eng 1929 1939 44 95 23 24.2
Lilley Eng 1896 1909 35 92 22 23.9
Jayawardene Slk 2000 2012 46 117 27 23.1
Kaluwitharana Slk 1992 2004 48 119 26 21.8
Evans T.G Eng 1946 1959 91 219 46 21.0
Engineer Ind 1961 1975 46 82 16 19.5
Kirmani Ind 1976 1986 88 198 38 19.2
Imtiaz Ahmed Pak 1952 1962 38 90 16 17.8
...
Ramdin D Win 2005 2012 46 138 3 2.2
Dujon P.J.L Win 1981 1991 79 270 5 1.9
Richardson Saf 1992 1998 41 152 2 1.3

 


Number of stumpings and the % of total keeper-dismissals is another nice-to-have information. It really has no bearing on evaluation of a keeper performance: rather, reflects the way the bowling attacks were formed. Oldfield, keeping to Grimmett and O'Reilly, has got 40% of his dismissals as stumpings. No surprises there. Same with Ames. Lilley was a pre-WW1 keeper. Note Prasanna Jayawardene's high share of 23%, no doubt due to Muralitharan's presence and recently Herath. Two Indian keepers of old and Imtiaz come in afterwards.

At the other end are couple of West Indian keepers and the CEO of ICC. They probably did not keep to any quality spinner. Less than 2% means stumpings for these keepers were as rare as Haley's (or more aptly, here, Healy's) comet.

 

6. Total Runs

 

 

Wicket Keeper Cty From To Tests BPos Runs scored
Gilchrist Aus 1999 2008 96 6.7 5570
Boucher M.V Saf 1997 2012 147 7.2 5515
Stewart A.J Eng 1990 2003 81 3.6 4542
Flower A Zim 1992 2002 55 5.0 4404
Knott A.P.E Eng 1967 1981 95 6.8 4389
Healy I.A Aus 1988 1999 119 7.1 4356
Marsh R.W Aus 1970 1984 96 6.9 3633
Dhoni M.S Ind 2005 2012 67 6.9 3582
Sangakkara Slk 2000 2012 49 3.0 3281
Dujon P.J.L Win 1981 1991 79 6.6 3146
Prior M.J
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