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The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards. [1] The role of the keeper is governed by Law 27 of the Laws of Cricket. [1]
Initially, during the bowling of the ball the wicket-keeper crouches in a full squatting position but partly stands up as the ball is received. Australian wicket-keeper Sammy Carter (1878 to 1948) was the first to squat on his haunches rather than bend over from the waist (stooping). [2]
The keeper's major function is to stop deliveries that pass the batsman (in order to prevent runs being scored as 'byes'), 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 squat 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. [3]
Like the other players on a cricket team, keepers will bat during the team's batting innings. At elite levels, wicket-keepers are generally expected to be proficient batters, averaging considerably more than specialist bowlers. See Wicket-keeper-batsman.
Law 27.2, which deals with the specifications for wicketkeepers' gloves, states that:
Substitutes were previously not allowed to keep wicket, but this restriction was lifted in the 2017 edition of the Laws of Cricket.
This rule was sometimes suspended, by agreement with the captain of the batting side. For example, during the England–New Zealand Test match at Lord's in 1986, England's specialist keeper, Bruce French, was injured while batting during England's first innings. England then used four 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 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. [4]
Arthur Jones was the first substitute to keep wicket in a Test match, when he did so against Australia at The Oval in 1905. [5]
There is no rule stating a team must play a wicket-keeper. [6] On 5 June 2015 during a T20 Blast game between the Worcestershire Rapids and the Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Worcestershire chose not to play a wicket-keeper in the 16th over of the match. [7] Their keeper, Ben Cox, became an extra fielder at fly slip while spinner Moeen Ali bowled. [7] The umpires consulted with each other and agreed that there was nothing in the rules to prevent it from happening. [8]
The following are the top 10 wicket-keepers by total dismissals in Test cricket. [9]
Leading Test match wicket-keepers by dismissals1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Name | Country | Matches | Caught | Stumped | Total dismissals |
1 | Mark Boucher | ![]() | 147 | 532 | 23 | 555 |
2 | Adam Gilchrist | ![]() | 96 | 379 | 37 | 416 |
3 | Ian Healy | ![]() | 119 | 366 | 29 | 395 |
4 | Rod Marsh | ![]() | 96 | 343 | 12 | 355 |
5 | MS Dhoni | ![]() | 90 | 256 | 38 | 294 |
6 | Brad Haddin | ![]() | 66 | 262 | 8 | 270 |
Jeff Dujon | ![]() | 81 | 265 | 5 | 270 | |
8 | Alan Knott | ![]() | 95 | 250 | 19 | 269 |
9 | BJ Watling | ![]() | 73 | 249 | 8 | 257 |
10 | Matt Prior | ![]() | 79 | 243 | 13 | 256 |
Statistics are correct as of 13 August 2018
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The following are the top wicket-keepers by total dismissals in one day cricket. [10]
Leading one-day wicket-keepers by dismissals | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Name | Country | Matches | Caught | Stumped | Total dismissals |
1 | Kumar Sangakkara | ![]() | 353 | 383 | 99 | 482 |
2 | Adam Gilchrist | ![]() | 287 | 417 | 55 | 472 |
3 | MS Dhoni | ![]() | 341 | 321 | 123 | 444 |
4 | Mark Boucher | ![]() | 295 | 403 | 22 | 424 |
5 | Moin Khan | ![]() | 219 | 214 | 73 | 287 |
6 | Brendon McCullum | ![]() | 260 | 227 | 15 | 242 |
7 | Ian Healy | ![]() | 168 | 194 | 39 | 233 |
8 | Rashid Latif | ![]() | 166 | 182 | 38 | 220 |
9 | Mushfiqur Rahim | ![]() | 205 | 169 | 42 | 211 |
10 | Romesh Kaluwitharana | ![]() | 189 | 131 | 75 | 206 |
Statistics are correct as of 23 September 2019
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The following are the top 10 wicket-keepers by total dismissals in Twenty20 International cricket. [11]
Leading T20I wicket-keepers by dismissals | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Name | Country | Matches | Caught | Stumped | Total dismissals |
1 | MS Dhoni | ![]() | 98 | 57 | 34 | 91 |
2 | Kamran Akmal | ![]() | 58 | 28 | 32 | 60 |
3 | Denesh Ramdin | ![]() | 68 | 38 | 20 | 58 |
4 | Mushfiqur Rahim | ![]() | 81 | 30 | 28 | 58 |
5 | Mohammad Shahzad | ![]() | 65 | 26 | 28 | 54 |
6 | Quinton de Kock | ![]() | 38 | 36 | 10 | 46 |
7 | Kumar Sangakkara | ![]() | 56 | 25 | 20 | 45 |
8 | Sarfaraz Ahmed | ![]() | 55 | 34 | 10 | 44 |
9 | Brendon McCullum | ![]() | 71 | 24 | 8 | 32 |
10 | Luke Ronchi | ![]() | 33 | 24 | 6 | 30 |
Statistics are correct as of 23 September 2019
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This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cricket statistics and the naming of fielding positions is explained at fielding (cricket).
In cricket, a dismissal occurs when a batsman's period of batting is brought to an end by the opposing team. It is also known as the batsman being out, the batting side losing a wicket, and the fielding side taking a wicket. The ball becomes dead, and the dismissed batsman must leave the field of play permanently for the rest of their team's innings, and is replaced by a teammate. A team's innings ends if 10 of the 11 team members are dismissed—as players bat in pairs, when only one player is not out it is not possible for the team to bat any longer. This is known as bowling out the batting team, who are said to be all out.
Donald Tallon was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953. He was widely regarded by his contemporaries as Australia's finest ever wicket-keeper and one of the best in Test history, with an understated style, an ability to anticipate the flight, length and spin of the ball and an efficient stumping technique. Tallon toured England as part of Don Bradman's Invincibles of 1948 and was recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949 for his performances during that season. During his Test career, Tallon made 58 dismissals comprising 50 catches and 8 stumpings.
Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground.. The action of stumping can only be performed by a wicket-keeper, and can only occur from a legitimate delivery, while the batsman is not attempting a run; it is a special case of a run out.
George Owen Dawkes was a first-class cricketer who played for Leicestershire between 1937 and 1939 and for Derbyshire between 1947 and 1961 as a wicket keeper and a lower-order right-handed batsman. During the 1949–50 season he toured India with a team of players making up a Commonwealth XI.
Alyssa Jean Healy is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Australian women's national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in February 2010.
Don Tallon was a key member of Donald Bradman's famous Australian cricket team tour of England in 1948, in which Australia was undefeated in their 34 matches. This unprecedented feat by a Test side touring England earned them the sobriquet The Invincibles.
Wicket-keeper's gloves are large gloves used in cricket and worn by the wicket-keeper of the fielding team, which protect the hands of the wicket-keeper when catching balls bowled by the bowler, hit by a batter or thrown by a fielder.