Australian wicketkeepers

[Hellgood]

It seems at the moment, Australia has an excess of quality young (and not so young) wicketkeepers. Admittedly some of them are predominantly batsmen, but I haven't noticed any "poor" keepers at domestic level. Would be interested to see how people rate them all and think of them. I don't think theres any need to turn this into another Haddin thread, we've all gone over it countless times so I'll just focus on the other guys.

Tasmania
Clearly have the best keeping stocks with three excellent keepers who can all do their bit and then some with the bat as well as "one that got away". You'd think if Paine gets right again there'd have to be moves by Triffit and potentially Jones.

Tim Paine Had a fairly substancial taste of international cricket, which resulted in some pretty impressive performances both with the bat and with the gloves. Would be playing test cricket right now, but his future seems to be a bit uncertain with varying reports of the severity of his injured finger. Pretty much faultless with the gloves from what I have seen, and can certainly provide a lot with the bat too.

Tom Triffit His glovework from what I have seen has been pretty good and is an extremely clean striker of the ball. Played some very impressive innings at T20 level and in the Ryobi Cup. Madness that he was played whilst needing surgery even though he is still very young.

Brady Jones Limited opportunities due to Paine and the emergence of Triffit, but every time I have seen him he has impressed. Bats at 9, but batting behind guys like Faulkner, Butterworth and Krejza isn't embarrassing at all. Has stood up under tough circumstaces with the bat, getting Tassie over the line in a Shield game a year or two back over WA with two boundaries in the last over of the match, and played very confidently today when NSW had a real sniff of winning.

NSW
Peter Nevill Made the most of his move to Sydney and has put his name up there for international honours. Keeping is rated highly and his record with the bat is very impressive albeit still in his early stages. As good as he has started he will have to continue to put up these impressive performances since Wade and Paine (and possibly more) will provide significant competition for the keeping spot.

Victoria
Matthew Wade The best batsman out of all the keepers in Australian cricket and is suited to all forms of the game. Some question his keeping, but I haven't seen anything significantly bad about it. Takes some fantastic diving catches which suggests his footwork is sound enough and his agility is good. First in line at the moment, but if Paine's finger heals and Neville continues to impress that could change quite quickly.

Western Australia
Luke Ronchi Highly unlikely to play for Australia again due to his infuriatingly inconsistent batting, but his keeping has improved over time. His keeping was very clean during the Big Bash and has some great takes and stumpings off a very tricky bowler to keep to in Hogg. A beautiful striker of the ball, but simply does not come off often enough. Was very close to a Baggy Green in the West Indies and had some good ODI and T20 performances for Australia, but has only recently broken back into WA's shield side. Sam Whiteman (Aus U/19 keeper) is very highly rated so you'd expect either him or Cameron Bancroft to take over the shield spot in the next year or so.

Queensland
Chris Hartley Widely regarded as the best keeper in Australia and is far from a disgrace with the bat, but an average of about 30 post Gilchrist isn't considered impressive enough. Wouldn't be a bad option, but I think that Nevill, Wade and Paine all offer significantly more with the bat which sees them leapfrog Hartley in the pecking order.

Ben Dunk A good short form batsman and an impressive striker of the ball. Haven't noticed his keeping from my limited viewing, which might be a good thing. Not a huge stretch to suggest he could come into consideration for our T20 or ODI lineup if he becomes more consistent with his batting.

South Australia
Adam Crosthwaite After a couple of years playing grade cricket he has found a spot for him at domestic level. Keeping is acceptable, gets up the nose of many a batsman and can bat well especially in the one day format. Not sure if he can ever get up to international standard, but has been OK since moving to Adelaide.

Tim Ludemann Has fallen off the radar a bit since Crosthwaite has broken into the team.


Am I looking at our future keepers with rose coloured glasses or do we actually have some very good depth in our domestic ranks? Any you disagree on? Any I have missed? Is there any guns coming through grade cricket?

 

[BluesMan]

Wade is quickly jumping on to the bigfooty dislike list. Just becuase of his keeping? People are saying this even without seeing him keep, because someone else said it on here, and it spreads like wildfire. I bet sweet FA people on here have a had good look at Wades keeping and have just jumped on board the can't keep train. There isnt any evidence to suggest he's half as bad as some seem to think.

Like last night, his keeping was good, wtf are people talking about? Hardly noticed him, which means he didnt faulter, which is good. It infurates me this crap that gets raved about his keeping, without actual evidence.

 

[Gak Attack]

Wade is quickly jumping on to the bigfooty dislike list. Just becuase of his keeping? People are saying this even without seeing him keep, because someone else said it on here, and it spreads like wildfire. I bet sweet FA people on here have a had good look at Wades keeping and have just jumped on board the can't keep train. There isnt any evidence to suggest he's half as bad as some seem to think.

Like last night, his keeping was good, wtf are people talking about? Hardly noticed him, which means he didnt faulter, which is good. It infurates me this crap that gets raved about his keeping, without actual evidence.

Actually I think people took it from Wade himself who admitted in the past he needed to work on it, most cricket commentators who when he started making runs mentioned it was not up to international standard at the time and also I have actually watched a lot of him in person and on TV and early on he was certainly the weakest of all state keepers. It's hardly just a BF thing. However he has improved a lot over the last 18 months as he has made plenty of runs he's obviously had the time to put some work into it... still I doubt even he would claim he is ahead of the likes of Hartley or Paine but he's certainly well past Haddin as a glovesman.

To the OP I certainly agree, which it makes it all the more frustrating they are keeping Haddin in. If Wade gets the job before Paine is fit(if he ever is) and Paine is fulltime back in Tassie I can see a Wade scenario happening again with Triffit as I imagine he would be offered the #1 job at a couple of states.

 

[Cotchin 9]

Good write up. Ryan Carters behind Wade, don't know how he'll turn out. Only 21 and has very limited opportunities.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I've seen lots of Victoria's one day and T20 matches in the past few years and I've got to say I was shocked to hear some questioning Matthew Wade's keeping abilities recently, as I don't remember ever having seen him drop a catch, or miss an easy stumping (until he missed the one off Warne the other week), or let through lots of byes, or anything like that.
To me, he was someone I didn't notice, which I think is a good thing, as it means he wasn't stuffing up. I hear he also didn't let a single bye through in his first three T20 games for Australia and he looked to be doing perfectly well when I was watching the Indian innings' in the two T20's this week. He also got across to the catch he took on Friday night really well and I was thinking if it was Haddin, he'd probably have needed to get out his cartwheel to get over to it.
He's going to make some blues, but he's also likely to improve from simply playing at that level, but he is one tough and determined character, so I expect he'll work on any deficiencies until they are at a good enough standard.
Unfortunately, like Haddin, every move he makes is going to be scrutinized and every little mistake he makes is going to get magnified and the "overreaction squad" on here will tell us how he isn't up to it, the first time he lets a bye past, or anything like that. I expect he'll be good enough, though, especially in T20i's and ODI's and probably tests as well. It's also worth remembering that he's a few to many years younger than Haddin or Gilly were when they first played test cricket for Australia, so he ought to be cut some slack in that regard.

 

[Bradesmaen]

Having seen both Haddin and Wade up close over the last couple of years, Haddin is definitely a better keeper. He has had a poor recent run and keeps mentioning how tired he is.. I just wonder if there isn't some sort of virus in his system making him fatigued all the time. 2 years ago, he was a very good keeper and batsman, bit strange to lose it all so quickly.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Haddin of now, or Haddin of two years ago and Wade of right now, or Wade at some time in the past couple of years?

 

[ROSEMVP]

Wade is a pretty good keeper and a great batsman.
Tim Paine is overrated.
Chris Hartley is the best pure glovesman in the country and his batting is underated.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

The sitter that Wade dropped off Hogg did not spell good news for me...you just cannot drop those catches in a test match. Is Haddin the answer, probably no, is Wade the answer at test level, no. His keeping is average and is no better than Haddin behind the stumps.

 

[BluesMan]

Wade is a pretty good keeper and a great batsman.
Tim Paine is overrated.
Chris Hartley is the best pure glovesman in the country and his batting is underated.

Your first sentence made sense. From then on, hmmm

Hartley is a poor bat and his records shows so. Keeper must bat or he won't get near the International squad of australia.

 

[BluesMan]

The sitter that Wade dropped off Hogg did not spell good news for me...you just cannot drop those catches in a test match. Is Haddin the answer, probably no, is Wade the answer at test level, no. His keeping is average and is no better than Haddin behind the stumps.

I must of missed the drop, are you being serious or clutching at straws? Any footage anyone?

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I must of missed the drop, are you being serious or clutching at straws? Any footage anyone?

Was off Hogg, regulation catch to be honest, forget which over it was as I was watching it at a party, re-watched it when I got home (just to make sure I was right that it was a catch and it wasn't my eyes). That is the issue with Wade, you just cannot drop regulation catches- and this is not me saying Haddin should be in the team. However MAYBE we should wait for Paine, Nevill and Triffit to fight it out. Wade is the perfect T20/ODI keeper as catches are less likely to kill the team, however in a test match I want the keeper catching every catch.

 

[dajesmac]

Sam Whiteman love over here. Went to primary school, and high school with him, and played alot of cricket with him. Is a talent, but haven't seen him play for a few years. Was an outstanding left handed batsman. Hope to see him in a few years in a baggy green.

 

[Daz]

Good write up. Ryan Carters behind Wade, don't know how he'll turn out. Only 21 and has very limited opportunities.

What happened to Carters in the BB? He made a 100 in the praccy match but still couldn't get a game ahead of Manou.

 

[dan warna]

if you are referring to the late cut, that was not a catch. Haddin wouldn't have even got near it.

You must be joking, even slats and the pro haddin crowd in the media made no mention of that as a catch.

 

[timmeh]

if you are referring to the late cut, that was not a catch. Haddin wouldn't have even got near it.

You must be joking, even slats and the pro haddin crowd in the media made no mention of that as a catch.

bombersno1 has an agenda! All you need to do is search his past posts on the cricket forum.

Don't mind that troll!

 

[danielnajdek]

The sitter that Wade dropped off Hogg did not spell good news for me...you just cannot drop those catches in a test match. Is Haddin the answer, probably no, is Wade the answer at test level, no. His keeping is average and is no better than Haddin behind the stumps.

Didn't know keepers fielded at first slip

 

[dan warna]

bombersno1 has an agenda! All you need to do is search his past posts on the cricket forum.

Don't mind that troll!

Its a game

I don't really mind as I play too. there is interesting discussion in between the trolling

 

[Hellgood]

Sam Whiteman love over here. Went to primary school, and high school with him, and played alot of cricket with him. Is a talent, but haven't seen him play for a few years. Was an outstanding left handed batsman. Hope to see him in a few years in a baggy green.

Played against him a few years ago, can't remember much but he made a few against us that day.

 

[2222 Richie B]

If we keep making our benchmark for wicketkeeping standards on Bad Hands then we have got nothing to look forward to.

The thing people forget, until his last season, Gilly was a really good keeper. Then before that Healy was fantastic. If only Darren Berry had todays competition back in the day he would have been playing Test match cricket.

 

[Tex_21]

Chris Hartley is the best pure glovesman in the country and his batting is underated.

This. Hartley is very clean with the gloves, and a solid, if not spectacular bat. Better batsman than Healy ever was, and Healy wasn't a mug.

Great point above re Gilchrist too - he was a top notch keeper as well, and just a freak of nature. The standard is set too high really for keeper's batting ability, particularly in Tests, fair enough in limited overs cricket to want an extra batsman. If you are genuinely relying on a keeper at 7 to be a top class batsman, then your top 6 needs work.

 

[dan warna]

concur on gilchrist's keeping.

I wouldn't say he was that far behind heal's keeping as well. Was an exceptional and disciplined keeper.

 

[mediumsizered]

concur on gilchrist's keeping.

I wouldn't say he was that far behind heal's keeping as well. Was an exceptional and disciplined keeper.

Early on, Gilchrist was more of a batsman,who kept quite tidily. Similar to a Dujon, or Wayne Phillips. Over a period of time his keeping improved, to a level, as you have rightly stated, not far off Healy.

 

[dan warna]

I remember dujon as an extremely athletic wicketkeeper. I wouldn't have called him a batsman who kept. I think Sri Lanka and latterly England were the most guilty team for that habit, and of course Australia with Baddin.

He used to take a lot of spectacular catches.

Or maybe my memory is fading it must be 25 odd years since the windies came out with Dujon keeping.

I think his last tour he was struggling as was logie and haynes

 

[Tex_21]

Early on, Gilchrist was more of a batsman,who kept quite tidily. Similar to a Dujon, or Wayne Phillips. Over a period of time his keeping improved, to a level, as you have rightly stated, not far off Healy.

IMO its a bit harsh comparing Gilly to Phillips. He may not have been Healy when he started, but he was better with the gloves than Phillips was.