Ben Foakes, acknowledged as one of the best glovemen in the world, on the key facets of wicketkeeping.

First published in issue 29 of Wisden Cricket Monthly

1. Head position is key

With keeping, everything leads from the head. If you’re diving and you don’t lead with your head, your feet aren’t going to go very far. Similarly, if you’re standing up and your head comes up all of a sudden, you can’t jump up or down. I don’t look to be on the balls of my feet necessarily, I just make sure that my head is forward and then the movement will come naturally.

2. Generating power

If I’m standing up to the stumps, I try to stay as low as possible. Not least because I’m tall, but if you stay low and the ball comes through high, it’s far easier to jump up than it is to come down. Each keeper will do it differently, but for me it’s about getting into the position that allows me to dive furthest.

Foakes’ influences

Watching James Foster close up when I was at Essex, and MS Dhoni on TV, was very important for me. Up to the stumps, they changed games. They both had distinctive styles, keeping their hands close up to the stumps. I see the Australian technique as looking good, but they take the ball and ‘give’ with the hands, so a batsman can drag his foot out of his crease, and in that extra split second, they still have time to get back in. It’s not ‘wrong’ as such. Whereas with Dhoni, who doesn’t really ‘give’ with the hands: that’s out. Or Foster: that’s out.

First published in issue 29 of Wisden Cricket Monthly. Subscribe here