The wicket-keeper (also spelt wicketkeeper and often shortened to keeper) in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards.[1]
It is essentially a specialist role although a keeper is occasionally called upon to bowl, in which case another member of the fielding side temporarily keeps wicket. The role of the keeper is governed by Law 40 of the Laws of Cricket.[2]
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The keeper's major function is to stop deliveries that pass the batsman (in order to prevent runs being scored), but he can also attempt to dismiss the batsman in various ways:
A keeper's position depends on the bowler: for fast bowling he will crouch some distance from the stumps, in order to have time to react to edges from the batsman, while for slower bowling, he will come much nearer to the stumps (known as "standing up"), to pressure the batsman into remaining within the crease or risk being stumped. The more skilled the keeper, the faster the bowling to which he is able to "stand up", for instance Godfrey Evans often stood up to Alec Bedser. [1]
Wicket-keeping is a specialist discipline and it requires training consistent with the level expected of a specialist batsman or bowler. However, the modern-day keeper is also expected to possess reasonable batting skill, suiting him for the middle order at least. Wicket-keepers who are also capable of batting at the top of the order are known informally as keeper/batsmen.
Since there is only room for one keeper in a cricket side, selectors (especially at the international level) are often faced with a difficult choice between two or more skilled keepers. Often, one of the two keepers is an exceptional keeper, but only an average batsman, whereas the other is a keeper/batsman who is clearly better at batting, but not quite as good a keeper as his rival. One such selection dilemma was that faced by England selectors in the 1990s between Jack Russell (the pure keeper) and Alec Stewart (the keeper/batsman). They were never able to consistently choose between the two until 1998, when Russell began to fade: prior to that, they had regularly swapped the role, often with Stewart maintaining his place when not wicket-keeping thanks to his batting skill. Another prime example is that of Pakistani wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who is renowned for being a very inconsistent wicketkeeper who fluffs easy chances, but has remained a fixture in the team over the last decade because his batting is considerably superior to the alternatives'. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum, Brad Haddin,Adnan Akmal and Mark Boucher are the top keeper/batsmen today in cricket.
The keeper may also have a captaincy role. Uniquely, they are usually involved in every delivery of an innings, and may be in a position to see things that the captain misses. They can frequently be heard encouraging the bowler, and may also indulge in the practice (not meant to be overheard) of "sledging" the batsman with well timed comments about their skill, appearance or personal habits.
The keeper is the only fielder allowed to touch the ball with protective equipment, typically large padded gloves with webbing between the index finger and thumb, but no other webbing. The protection offered by the gloves is not always adequate. The England keeper Alan Knott sometimes placed steaks inside his gloves for added cushioning. Wicket-keepers also tend to wear leg pads and a box to protect the groin area.
Wicket-keepers are allowed to take off their pads and bowl, and this is not uncommon when matches are drifting to draws or a bowling team is desperate for a wicket. Two keepers have removed their pads and taken hat-tricks in first-class cricket: Probir Sen for Bengal v Orissa at Cuttack in 1954-55 and A.C. (Alan) Smith for Warwickshire v Essex at Clacton in 1965; Smith was a most unusual player in that he was primarily a wicket-keeper, but was sometimes selected as a frontline bowler.
According to Law 2 of the Laws of Cricket, a substitute (taking the place of an ill or injured player) may not keep wicket.[2]
This rule is sometimes suspended, by agreement with the captain of the batting side, although Law 2 does not provide for such agreement to be made. For example, during the England—New Zealand Test Match at Lord's in 1986, England's specialist keeper, Bruce French was injured during England's first innings. England then used 4 keepers in New Zealand's first innings: Bill Athey kept for the first two overs; 45-year-old veteran Bob Taylor was pulled out of the sponsor's tent to keep, immaculately, for overs 3 to 76; Bobby Parks, the Hampshire keeper, was called up for overs 77 to 140; and Bruce French kept wicket for the final ball of the innings.
The following top 10 wicket-keepers for dismissals in Test cricket.[3]
| Leading Test match wicket-keepers by dismissals1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Name | Country | Matches | Caught | Stumped | Total dismissals |
| 1 | Mark Boucher2* | South Africa | 139 | 499 | 22 | 521 |
| 2 | Adam Gilchrist | Australia | 96 | 379 | |416 | |
| 3 | Ian Healy | Australia | 119 | 366 | 29 | 395 |
| 4 | Rod Marsh | Australia | 96 | 343 | 12 | 355 |
| 5 | Jeffrey Dujon | West Indies | 81 | 267 | 5 | 272 |
| 6 | Alan Knott | England | 95 | 250 | 19 | 269 |
| 7 | Alec Stewart | England | 82 | 227 | 14 | 241 |
| 8 | Wasim Bari | Pakistan | 81 | 201 | 27 | 228 |
| 9 | Ridley Jacobs | West Indies | 65 | 207 | 12 | 219 |
| 10 | Godfrey Evans | England | 91 | 173 | 46 | 219 |
Notes in Table
The following wicket-keepers have taken 200 or more dismissals in one day cricket.[4]
| Leading one day wicket-keepers by dismissals1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | name | Country | Matches | Caught | Stumped | Total dismissals |
| 1 | Adam Gilchrist | Australia | 287 | 417 | 55 | 472 |
| 2 | Mark Boucher2* | South Africa | 295 | 402 | 22 | 424 |
| 3 | Kumar Sangakkara2* | Sri Lanka | 301 | 275 | 78 | 367 |
| 4 | Moin Khan | Pakistan | 219 | 214 | 73 | 287 |
| 5 | MS Dhoni* | India | 196 | 187 | 61 | 248 |
| 6 | Ian Healy | Australia | 168 | 194 | 39 | 233 |
| 7 | Brendan McCullum* | New Zealand | 195 | 212 | 14 | 226 |
| 8 | Rashid Latif | Pakistan | 166 | 182 | 38 | 220 |
| 9 | Romesh Kaluwitharana | Sri Lanka | 189 | 131 | 75 | 206 |
| 10 | Jeffrey Dujon | West Indies | 169 | 183 | 21 | 204 |
Notes in Table
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