A wicket-keeper-batter is a type of player in
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
who fields primarily as a
wicket-keeper
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. Th ...
and is particularly adept as a
batsman
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...
. While they offer a similar advantage to a team as an
all-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
, that term is usually used to refer to players who can both bat and bowl to a high standard.
Traditionally, wicket-keepers were chosen in international
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
sides primarily because of their wicket-keeping abilities. Wicket-keeping is regarded as the most strenuous fielding position, due not only to its physical demands but also its mental and psychological ones. Teams would therefore choose wicket-keepers based on their wicket-keeping skill. This caused Test nations to select players who could specialise in wicket-keeping. This type of specialisation would often lead to these players focusing less on their batting. During this period, while elite-level wicket-keepers were typically better batters than specialist bowlers, their
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
was usually considerably lower than the specialist batters on the team. For example,
Alan Knott
Alan Philip Eric Knott (born 9 April 1946) is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as o ...
, who played 95 Test matches for England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, averaged 31 over a long career. By comparison,
Geoffrey Boycott
Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...
, who had a similarly long career as a batter for England in the same period, averaged 47.72.
In the 1990s, teams started fielding wicket-keepers who were especially talented batsmen. This trend began largely with
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keep ...
, who was Australia's wicket-keeper in Tests and ODIs. After his example, the top cricketing teams and aspiring wicket-keepers saw the extraordinary value wicket-keeper-batsmen could have for a side. Other batsmen who followed Gilchrist's example and have since been fully integrated into their national sides as top wicket-keeper-batsmen include
Andy Flower
Andrew Flower (born 28 April 1968) is a Zimbabwean cricket coach and a former cricketer. As a cricketer, he captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He was Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper for more than 10 years and is, statistically, the greatest ...
,
MS Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...
,
Brendon McCullum
Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...
,
Mark Boucher
Mark Verdon Boucher (born 3 December 1976) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Boucher is regarded as one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen of all time, and holds the record for the ...
,
Dinesh Karthik
Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian professional cricketer and commentator who nationally plays for the Indian Cricket Team and currently in Indian Premier League playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is also the ...
,
Quinton de Kock
Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...
,
Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990) is an English cricketer who captains the England cricket team in limited overs cricket, and plays for the England Test team. In domestic cricket he represents Lancashire, having previously played ...
,
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...
,
Mohammad Rizwan and
Sanju Samson
Sanju Viswanath Samson (; born 11 November 1994) is an Indian international cricketer who captains Kerala in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League. A right-handed wicket-keeper-batter, he was the vice-captain of the ...
,
[Aadi Jalan]
Ranking the top 10 wicketkeeper-batsmen of all time.
Sportskeeda. as well as
Alyssa Healy
Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) 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 Februa ...
and
Sarah Taylor.
In the modern game, wicket-keepers are often expected to contribute as much with the bat as middle-order batsmen might be.
Notably, some international players selected mostly for their batting skills have been asked to keep for short periods of time.
Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu (born 23 September 1985) is an Indian cricketer who currently captains the Baroda cricket team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy championship. He played 61 limited overs matches for the India national cricket team between ...
,
A. B. de Villiers,
Jonny Bairstow
Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Sunrisers Hy ...
,
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan ( si, තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of th ...
,
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
,
Marcus Trescothick
Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals.[KL Rahul
Kannanur Lokesh Rahul (born 18 April 1992) is an Indian international cricketer who currently is the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team in test cricket. He is a Right-handed batter and occasional wicketkeeper. He plays for Karnataka in ...]
,
Beth Mooney
Bethany Louise Mooney (born 14 January 1994) is an Australian professional cricketer who plays for the national cricket team as a batter in all three formats of the game. At the domestic level, she plays as a wicket-keeper-batter for Western ...
etc. are among such occasional wicket-keepers.
In the 2010s, more teams pick multiple wicketkeeper-batsmen to offer more depth on both batting and fielding, with the players not wearing the gloves fielding from slips to mid-on, bat-pad or even as an outfielder. Some of them could be ageing former wicketkeepers that can no longer crouch and withstand the rigours of being wicketkeepers, or young keepers with poorer wicketkeeping skills compared to the incumbents, but still good enough to function elsewhere on the field on top of being able batsmen.
See also
*
Cricket terminology
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 c ...
*
Fielding (cricket)
Fielding in the sport of cricket is the action of fielders in collecting the ball after it is struck by the striking batter, to limit the number of runs that the striker scores and/or to get a batter out by either catching a hit ball befo ...
*
Batting (cricket)
In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...
References
{{Portalbar, Cricket
Cricket terminology
Wicket-keepers