Best Wicket Keeper-Batsman in Test Cricket

[King Pietersen]

No he doesn't. McCullum and Boucher's keeping > Dhoni's, and Prior, Haddin and McCullum are better with the bat. I can't see why Dhoni's leading so convincingly. In ODi's he's probably top, but not in Tests. Just proves that there are more Indian's on this part of the forum than any other nation!

 

[ZoraxDoom]

There are better keepers, and there are better bats. Dhoni is good at both, and so is the best Keeper/bat. Simple enough.

And where did I try to justify him leading by so much?

 

[King Pietersen]

You didn't. I did.

Well, McCullum's better in terms of his batting (in my eyes, I'd much rather watch McCullum anyway) and his keeping is comfortably better (he's the best keeper in the world for me), so I'd say McCullum deserves to be top. He's a much better all-round talent, and more exciting to watch.

 

[The_gas]

I voted other, and Carl Gazzard...

 

[Cricketman]

MSD's great with the gloves and great with the bat. McCullum averages 28, which isn't even at the 'average' level for most batsman today at 30. Boucher is by far better with the gloves, but his batting has never struck me. Dhoni has the ability to change the match with the bat, and is still a great keeper. He's the best balance between the two, and thats what a WKB is.

I see him in the future dropping the gloves completely ala Sanga, and giving it to Karthik.

 

[mattfb]

MSD's great with the gloves and great with the bat. McCullum averages 28, which isn't even at the 'average' level for most batsman today at 30. Boucher is by far better with the gloves, but his batting has never struck me. Dhoni has the ability to change the match with the bat, and is still a great keeper. He's the best balance between the two, and thats what a WKB is.

I see him in the future dropping the gloves completely ala Sanga, and giving it to Karthik.

Dhoni is not as good as Boucher with the gloves. Boucher is the best wicket keeper in the world atm. He has an average of around 4 catches a match compared to Dhoni's, which is just under 3. So Boucher has the upper hand. Plus you have to remember, keeping is the most important ability in a wicketkeeper batsmen. If you average 50 but drop 2/5 catches then your useless.

The batting isn't too different. Dhoni averages 36 and Boucher 30 and the difference is, Boucher is a consistent performer. You can count of him getting 30 odd almost every innings. Dhoni isn't so consistent. In his 4 years, in the 2 years he has played 12 matches he has averaged 29 and 35. Boucher averages 32 overall in the 8 years he has played 10+ matches. Dhoni averages 32 as well in the 2 years he has played 10+ runs.

So what we are seeing here, is that both batsmen are about the same. Seems Bouchers keeping does Dhoni, and keeping is the main part of a wicketkeeper-batsmen, surely Boucher wins?

 

[irottev]

I think this thread is a prime example of how amazing the wicket keepers today are. Almost every side has a really quality batsman who can keep at a high standard. That part of the game has evolved heaps.

 

[SciD]

Dhoni cant bat in test is myth and you will find soon. He is diffrent batsman when he is captain of side.

scion_sid added 2 Minutes and 35 Seconds later...

Just proves that there are more Indian's on this part of the forum than any other nation!

Not as many Indians as you think. Even ghost KP226 voted for Dhoni

.Mob, amansingh90, arun.fundoo, aus5892, aus_maestro, chetan0304, Cricketman, dhayalan, dizzwell, Dr. Pepper, IloveGilly, Jakester1288, kp226, Leggie, lobsterino, MacLovin, naresh091, nightprowler10, Pakistani Army, prarara, Precambrian, sami ullah khan, sashidharan, scion_sid, shravi, Shri, sohum, srikarr12, stefan, TheGreemSim, Zohaib, ZoraxDoom

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'm sure, at the very least, .Mob, Cricketman, Dr. Pepper, Gilly, Leggie, MacLovin, Nightprowler, Pakistani Army, Prarara, PB, Sami, Sid, Sohum, Zohaib and myself would count as unbiased. There's 15 votes right there...

 

[Themer]

Dhoni cant bat in test is myth and you will find soon. He is diffrent batsman when he is captain of side.

Noone has said that Dhoni can't bat but he isn't the best batsman out of those in the list. I'd have Haddin and Prior over him any day if we were picking batsmen.

 

[sohum]

Dhoni is kind of in a transitional phase as a Test batsman. Now as the captain of the side, he will have the choice to decide how he wants to bat. Hopefully he will play his natural game, which is pretty devastating.

The reason he is chosen over Boucher on batting is simple: Boucher has had a long career and still averages in about the 30's. On the other hand, Dhoni has had a relatively poor start to his Test career and still averages in the mid-30's. If the effect of captaincy on his ODI batting is anything to go by, one can make a similar prediction for Tests.

 

[Leverocks]

ODI: MS Dhoni/ B.McCullum
Test: B.McCullum

 

[shravi]

I'm sure, at the very least, .Mob, Cricketman, Dr. Pepper, Gilly, Leggie, MacLovin, Nightprowler, Pakistani Army, Prarara, PB, Sami, Sid, Sohum, Zohaib and myself would count as unbiased. There's 15 votes right there...

Hey hey hey, I'm unbiased .

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Ummm....okay

Didn't see your name on the list. Make that a minimum of 16 unbiased votes on MSD.

 

[metallics2006]

Boucher is'nt as good as Dhoni when keeping wickets to the spinners. Dhoni does blindingly fast stumpings when he keeps wickets to the spinners and takes a few hard catches too when spinners bowl. So, if Boucher and McCullum are better than Dhoni at keeping to the quicks, that attribute pretty much loses it's leverage against Dhoni since they are not as good as Dhoni when keeping to spinners. As far as the batting is concerned, they are all equally good with no one having a large upper hand over the other. IMO, the mentioned keepers suit the needs of their respective sides very well.