Wisden’s modern wicketkeepers XI

A Test XI of wicketkeepers that would bat deep, bowl questionably and field brilliantly.

Up until not long ago, the job of a wicketkeeper was just that: to keep wicket as well as possible, with runs scored largely a bonus. That has changed significantly in the modern era, to the point where some wicketkeepers are among their country’s best batsmen.

Less noticed is the rise of a different type of all-rounder/keeper, those who are useful with the ball as well as with bat and gloves. These are few and far between, but there are just about enough to come up with a Test XI that would bat deep, bowl iffily, and field spectacularly.

We’ve tried to pick players in a position which makes sense for a Test batting line-up. So the openers have pedigree as openers, the middle order can get big scores, and the tail are in the team for their bowling. The No.7 is our designated gloveman, based on his work behind the stumps. All played at least some of their Test cricket in the 21st century.

Deep Dasgupta

The least established player in this team, having played just the eight Test matches, Deep Dasgupta holds one peculiar record; he’s the only Test cricketer this century to make a hundred opening the batting as a designated gloveman. Coming against England at Mohali, the even hundred set up a 10-wicket win.

Alec Stewart

In a way, the career of Alec Stewart stands as just as great a ‘what if?’ for England as those of Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick. Despite finishing his career as England’s leading Test run-scorer, the feeling lingered that he could have had a lot more had he been unencumbered by the gloves and allowed to just bat. He averaged 46.70 when not keeping, mostly batting in the top three, and that too in the Nineties, a supreme era for fast bowling. Against Pakistan, Wasim, Waqar and the rest, he averaged over 100 when not keeping.

Kumar Sangakkara

One of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kumar Sangakkara also excelled when relieved of keeping duties. His already-impressive overall average of 57.40 shoots up to a second-only-to-Bradman 66.78 in games where he wasn’t asked to keep. All but one of his Test hundreds came at No.3, where he bats in this side.

Mushfiqur Rahim

What we want from our No.4 is big, match-defining scores, and when it comes to keepers, there’s none better in that department than Mushfiqur Rahim. The diminutive Bangladesh stumper is the only Test cricketer in history to make more than one double hundred when being his team’s designated keeper, and it’s that record, along with an overall average of 42 since the start of 2012, that earns him a place in this team.

Andy Flower

Unquestionably Zimbabwe’s greatest cricketer, Andy Flower often found himself waging a lone war against the best sides of his day. Among Test keepers with more than 2,000 runs, AB de Villiers is the only other to average more than 50.

Adam Gilchrist

This XI couldn’t not include Adam Gilchrist, the wicketkeeper with the most Test runs and the man who revolutionised the role. He’s at No.6 in this team because he might have some work to do with the ball. Statistically, he’s the greatest bowler in T20 history, with a record of one ball bowled, one wicket taken and no runs conceded as he signed off from the Indian Premier League in style with his off-spin.

Mark Boucher

Trying to evaluate who the best pure gloveman is is an impossible task. With batting now a key part of the role, some of the best there have been in recent times – Hampshire’s Michael Bates or Worcestershire’s Ben Cox, for example – never came close to an international call-up. Purists rate Ben Foakes and Wriddhiman Saha, while James Foster is another artist this century. But we’ve gone on stats, picking Mark Boucher, who claimed a cool 999 dismissals across formats. With one Test wicket to his name – that of centurion DJ Bravo – that number rises up to an even 1,000.

MS Dhoni

The former India captain once found himself as the de facto third seamer in a Test match in England after Zaheer Khan limped off injured, and performed creditably too. He even had Kevin Pietersen, who would go on to make a match-winning double century, given out caught behind before a review saved the Englishman. Dhoni once came on to bowl second change in an ODI too, winkling out West Indies No.4 Travis Dowlin.

AB de Villiers

It’s not many teams AB de Villiers gets into on the strength of his bowling, rather than his batting. But Mr. 360 was once a genuine sixth-bowling option for the Proteas, turning his arm over regularly during the 2015 World Cup. His ODI average is an impressive 28.80, and scalps include Tom Latham, Aaron Finch and Younis Khan.

Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade’s bowling arguably contributed to a Test victory in a 2012 Test against Sri Lanka. An over before tea on the final day, Australia still needed six wickets to win, and, in apparent frustration at the listing efforts of his frontline bowlers, Michael Clarke threw the ball to Wade to show them how it was done. A giggling Phillip Hughes strapped on the pads and Wade sent down an energetically serviceable over of fast-medium seam, hovering around 80 miles an hour. Subsequently galvanised, the Aussies ran through Sri Lanka in the final session to wrap up the win. Recalled as a specialist batsman for the 2019 Ashes, he was called on to bowl ahead of Nathan Lyon in the first Test against New Zealand.

Tatenda Taibu

Almost certainly the best bowler in this team, Tatenda Taibu holds a niche record, as the only wicketkeeper to bowl his full quota in an ODI, against Sri Lanka in 2004. Figures of 2-42 weren’t quite enough to give Zimbabwe victory. Tibbly’s dibblies once saw off Sanath Jayasuriya in a Test match, and were good enough to earn him 25 wickets at 18.80. These include best figures of 8-43 – better than James Anderson’s career-best figures – in Zimbabwean first-class cricket.