Rhianna Southby keeps for Southern Brave in The Hundred

The role of wicketkeepers in women’s cricket is one of its most fundamental differences with the men’s game. As the game develops, the future of the position in the women’s game is already starting to change. Katya Witney investigates.

Last summer, Southern Brave keeper Rhianna Southby stood on the edge of the Utilita Bowl field, speaking to Dinesh Karthik and Mark Butcher while Sky cameras filmed. As other players warmed up in the background, she was put through her paces by Karthik - who kept for India in 64 matches across formats - explaining her routines and technique standing up to the stumps.

The spark for the segment came in Southern Brave’s previous game where, against Northern Superchargers, Southby was awarded Player of the Match for taking two sharp catches - one up to the stumps off Anya Shrubsole - and effecting two lightning stumpings. A video of her in that game, shared by The Hundred Twitter account, went viral.

“It’s not uncomfortable [when clips go viral],” Southby tells Wisden.com. “I’m recorded in practice quite a bit to look back at, so I get quite used to there being a camera there, and it doesn’t really bother me. It’s quite nice to get that recognition for working hard behind the scenes.

“It’s nice to get messages like, ‘I’m showing this to my son or daughter.’ That’s great. I wish I had something like that growing up, but I guess social media wasn’t big then.”

The success of the women’s Hundred has opened the game up to new and bigger audiences in the UK, with more opportunities for performances like Southby’s to gain recognition. However, she is the latest in a long line of keepers to gain notoriety on social media for outstanding feats behind the stumps.

Even before women’s international cricket was regularly televised, Sarah Taylor’s prowess behind the stumps was well known from the videos of her that would periodically pop up on Twitter feeds, or that were broadcast during coverage of other matches. Images of her leaping to her left to take an astonishing catch of a reverse sweep from Jodie Fields, or effecting a leg-side stumping standing up to Anya Shrubsole to dismiss Sune Luus are among the most recognisable in the game.

Fascination with skill and reaction speed follows the best keepers in the game around. But the willingness to crouch down for ball after ball, bat flying around close to the head and accepting broken fingers and permanently misshapen hands as part of the job is another part of the captivation.

“You definitely have to have a little bit of a screw loose,” says Southby. “You have to be a bit crazy at times, but I think that’s part of it. You have to be brave… But I also think you have to go in knowing, at some point, I’m going to have to stand up to quick bowlers. There’s a part of it that you have to have in you already, and I think I did. I played football when I was younger as a centre-back. I’m very small, so I knew I was going to get run into and potentially hurt. But I was okay with that. I just loved doing it.”

The fundamental difference between keepers in the women’s game and the men’s game is being able to stand up to the stumps to seam bowlers. In the women’s game, it’s expected that keepers can stand up to the stumps to bowlers capable of reaching speeds of up to 70mph while still standing back to the fastest. For Southby last year, the Southern Vipers bowling attack she kept to included Shrubsole, as well as Freya Kemp, Freya Davies and Lauren Bell.

The difference being able to effect stumpings and leg side catches off quick bowlers plays a huge part in the interest in women’s keepers. Those clips periodically shared around social media are often of incredible feats when standing up to the stumps. Last year in the women’s Ashes, one such clip of Amy Jones did the rounds, where she stumped Ash Gardner standing up to Nat Sciver-Brunt.

“It feels like instinct, but there’s a lot of hours that go into it,” Jones tells Wisden.com. “Standing up to the seamers keeps the batter in the crease and we [England] have the ideal bowlers to stand up to, like Nat [Sciver-Brunt] and Crossy [Kate Cross]. They’re bowlers that hit a good length and can really nail it. It keeps the batter in one place and means we’re more likely to get lbws, stumpings are just a bonus.

“But you can tie up the batters if your keeper’s up, fielders in tight, it feels like bowlers can hit that spot and really put pressure on them and make them feel like they need to do something, like charge down the wicket or try a big shot.

“I think Sarah [Taylor] has a huge amount to do with that. Growing up she was the person I looked to to watch and learn from. Eventually I played with her and had those conversations, but just to watch on TV and I think the way that she was so keen to be up to the stumps has filtered down. That’s a strength of all keepers in England really, we like to get up to the stumps and create those special moments that we’ve seen over the years. It’s brilliant and something like the Hundred gives such a good showcase to all the domestic keepers and the talent is so high.”

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With being able to stand up to the stumps to seamers being such an integral part of how teams operate, coaches of women’s teams have often valued the role of a specialist wicketkeeper over one who can bat in the top seven. Southby, who currently bats at Nos.9 or 10 for Southern Vipers, is aware of the role of coaches in valuing what her primary skill brings to the side over what she offers with the bat.

“I’m really fortunate to work with Charlotte Edwards,” says Southby. “I think that she appreciates a specialist keeper and what I can bring to the side. When I moved here from South East Stars, one of the first things she said to me was, you’re going to win us games with the gloves. That’s something she’s said I’ve done. Same with The Hundred.”

The specialist keeper vs specialist bat debate has been relevant in men’s cricket for decades. As scores have increased and sides looked to maximise runs, throwing the gloves to a batter who can get by behind the stumps has often been preferred to sacrificing a position in the batting order, or going without an extra allrounder to accommodate a keeper. A specialist keeper is a luxury, something Ben Foakes’ England career and others before him have epitomised.

In women’s cricket, so specialised is the role that the tradeoff isn’t as straightforward. While there are many examples of sides who employ keepers whose batting is their primary skill, for example, Tammy Beaumont has kept for England on multiple occasions, the value a specialist keeper can offer still takes precedence over potentially sacrificed runs.

Keepers who don’t specialise in the discipline can often find themselves ‘found out’ when the stakes ramp up. In the women’s game, with the heightened demands of taking the gloves, part-time keepers face an even tougher challenge, especially when examples of purists are so easy to come by.

“It’s hard at times,” says Southby when asked whether the constant caveat of her current batting position is frustrating. “Because I think I work just as hard on my primary skill, which is keeping, as potentially an opening bowler would, or an opening batter would… It does frustrate me at times when the batting comes into it, but I also understand that not all coaches are the same. I’m just very fortunate to be in the position I am with someone as understanding as Lottie.

“I think there’s definitely room for it [specialist keepers] in the game. I think one of the best things that came out of last year was that people were looking at me and having those conversations. It wasn’t just, ‘well she’s batting at nine, 10, 11 so we’re not interested.’

“I think it definitely makes a difference. Even if you just think about someone standing next to you, it can make you feel uncomfortable. A lot of the time that’s just what I’m trying to do, make them aware that I’m there. I’ll potentially take the first ball and take the stumps just to say I’m here. That can sometimes contain batters, keep them in their box, and make a difference that way. It could be a one percent-er or a ten percent-er, but I’ll take what I can get. It makes a difference.”

Where you can see the difference Southby speaks about is in the keeping stats for this year’s Charlotte Edwards Cup. Southby and Blaze’s Sarah Bryce are far and away topping the charts, each with nine dismissals, and 13 stumpings between them. The other eight keepers in the competition have collectively only effected 15 stumpings. Both Bryce and Southby have kept in every match so far for Blaze and Vipers, who both sit in the top three of the table.

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While there should be no doubt of the benefits a specialist keeper brings to sides, the future of the position is less certain. As the women’s game develops, strike rates increase and par scores continue to rise, the temptation to prioritise getting a keeper into the top six could follow suit.

England have selected Bess Heath as their backup keeping option for their last two overseas tours. While Heath is a capable keeper, Lauren Winfield-Hill is often preferred behind the stumps for Northern Diamonds, and batting is her primary skill. While Southby spent this winter touring New Zealand with England A, the inequality between the two skills is keeping her down the pecking order.

The value of having coaches who understand both the differences between the men’s and women’s game and the impact a specialist keeper can have is an integral part of whether the role will prevail throughout development.

“When I first started keeping, I was very lucky that I got Tony Frost,” says Jones. “He was recently retired from Warwickshire and from what my memory tells me, as soon as I decided I was keeping, he was my one-to-one coach. I remember with him we were always on the bowling machine, up to the stumps, good pace, just drilling it into me. That continued throughout the years.

“I’ve always had some really good coaches, Batesy [Michael Bates] is a great keeper himself and he always would have the focus around getting out there, showing off, taking the stumps quickly, good energy. They’re all a bit different but just as passionate. They love the skill of wicketkeeping, there’s only one of us out on the pitch and building that relationship with the coach is huge.

“Often people who aren’t wicketkeepers notice mistakes and there’s a whole spectrum of good takes that don’t end up with wickets.”

There’s an argument that specialists must be more and more exceptional across all cricket to keep up with its development. The emphasis on adding extra strings to your bow to make yourself more selectable is well established. Having a keeper capable of effecting lightning fast dismissals and worth their place as a batter is clearly the ideal scenario. It’s part of what’s made Jones so valuable to England. But the equation is far from simple, and it’s why keepers like Southby still have an important role to play.

The Metro Bank Girls in Cricket Fund in collaboration with the ECB aims to triple the number of girls’ cricket teams by breaking down barriers and creating supportive and inclusive spaces. Help transform the game, head to metrobankonline.co.uk/cricket to champion the future of girls’ cricket.

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