In the video above, the Brisbane Heat needed around nine-per-over to defeat the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash. With seven wickets left, and Thisara Perera at the crease, it would have been a cake-walk. Instead, Ludeman's grab changed the whole tone of the game. Brisbane won in the end, from the final ball, with a boundary that took several replays to confirm. In your opinion, what was worth more - Ludeman's catch, or another ten or fifteen runs from more of a "keeper-batsman"? | Below, YouTube stalwart Rob Moody has compiled the best collection of wicket-keeping greatness you'll see anywhere. Also worth noting are the game situations - the opening over of a T20, early in a tricky little run-chase, Mohammad Yousuf threatening to re-build a faltering Pakistani innings - and that's only the first three dismissals. Who is to say how many runs these batsmen may have gone on to add? Good glovework wins matches. |
England's latest batting line-up featured nine men with Test centuries, as well as Liam Plunkett, scorer of two first-class tons, and Jimmy'Gower' Anderson. It follows, then, that England should not be short of runs. What I believe they need to do is pick the best gloveman available to them. Exactly who that is is open to debate - is it James Foster or Chris Read? Perhaps a younger option, like Michael Bates or even Adam Rouse. Bates is the nearest thing to a specialist wicket-keeper left who plays regularly in the county game, although he often loses out to Adam Wheater's superior batting. The little I have seen of him behind the stumps has been completely faultless.
Michael Bates' first-class batting average is only around half that of Matt Prior, lower than either Stuart Broad or Liam Plunkett. In the present English line-up, though, you could afford that. If Moeen Ali was at six, followed by Stokes, Broad and Plunkett, then Bates would still make a better-than-average number ten; and he'd soon make friends with Broad and Anderson if he snaffled all of the chances that come his way.
My point is that with a genuine all-rounder (two, if you optimistically include Moeen) in the side, England could afford to be brave and pick the best man for one job, rather than a man who can do two quite well. It would be braver than handing a cap to Jos Buttler; Sir Humphrey Appleby might even call it "courageous".