Jamie Smith is the latest cricketer entrusted with the role of England wicketkeeper, joining a long and illustrious line of top-class internationals to have donned the gloves for their country. Here are five of England’s best 5 wicket-keepers to wear the gloves for the Three Lions.
Best 5 Wicket-Keepers: Alan Knott (1967-81)
Towering head and shoulders above the rest – figuratively because Flea, as he was nicknamed, was 5ft 8 – is Kent’s Alan Knott. Knott played 95 Tests for England and would have played more but for joining a rebel tour to South Africa in 1981, bringing down the curtain on an international career which, in numbers terms, has never been matched. No Englishman has played more Tests as a wicketkeeper, nor taken more catches (250) nor produced more total dismissals (269).
Best 5 Wicket-Keepers: Jack Russell (1987-98)
Jack Russell was a true cricketing eccentric who was mentored by Knott and, but for Alec Stewart, would have won far more than 54 caps. A colossal tree drinker, an artist and a man who shunned any limelight, the Gloucestershire glovesmith was a worthy successor to Knott because of his brilliance behind the stumps.
He scored two hundreds for his country and made 165 dismissals, but England’s desire to have a batsman-keeper in the ranks rather than a keeper-batsman means he was eventually sidelined.
Best 5 Wicket-Keepers: Les Ames (1929-39)
Les Ames was another England wicketkeeper who should have won more caps, his collection ending at 47 because of the outbreak of war in 1945. His bare figures – 72 catches, 23 stumpings – don’t begin to scratch the surface of one of only two keepers to complete the 1,000 runs and 100 dismissals in a single season. And Kent’s Ames did it three times.
He was the first keeper to score a century batting at seven and once belted a century before lunch for England. Little wonder he finished his Test career with a batting average of over 40.
Best 5 Wicket-Keepers: Alec Stewart (1989-2003)
Alec Stewart might not have been technically the best wicketkeeper in the game, but his prowess as a batsman ensured he became a mainstay, and occasional captain, for well over a decade. Stewart began his international career as an opening batsman – Russell was behind the stumps – but would also don the gloves when the selectors wanted to shoehorn an extra bowler or batter into the side. He would play 133 Tests, 82 of them as wicketkeeper, and stands third on England’s list of all-time dismissals as a keeper with 241.
Best 5 Wicket-Keepers: Matt Prior (2007-14)
The modern era is all about batters who can keep rather than the other way round, especially with so much one-day cricket being played, and Matt Prior was England’s first genuine rival to the likes of Australian Adam Gilchrist. Prior scored a century on his Test debut against West Indies but his keeping was always under scrutiny. It was the runs he scored and the pace at which he scored them that ensured his longevity and the Sussex player now sits second behind Knott in the list of England wicketkeeping dismissals with 256.
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