Cricket
Cricket
What’s The Role Of A Wicket-keeper/Batsman
The revolution that the role has undergone.
Wicket-keeping is one of the most important jobs in a cricket team. Every side wants someone who has safe hands behind the wicket, as one mistake in that area can cost a team a match. A good wicket-keeper also keeps the morale of the team high by shouting constant words of encouragement to bowlers and fielders in all situations.
In the last two decades, however, the role of the wicket-keeper has undergone drastic changes due to the deeds of a few gentlemen who have redefined the very art.
Now-a- days, wicket-keepers are also expected to be more than handy batsmen, a requirement that started with the exploits of Australia’s Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist was one of the most dangerous attacking batsmen for Australia in all forms of the game. He came in at number seven in Test cricket and won many matches for his team, even from difficult positions, with his stupendous hitting.
Digging in the past
In the 1970s and 80s, a wicket-keeper having a batting average of somewhere around the mid 20s or early 30s was completely acceptable, and most wicket-keepers had numbers in that region. However, Gilchrist and also to a great extent the likes of Andy Flower and Kumar Sangakkara changed all that with their performances for their respective teams.
With cricket slowly but surely turning into a batsman’s game, expectations of all sides from their wicket-keepers grew. The 2000s saw many sides making strong batting skills a prerequisite for the job. In many cases, the cricket boards even settled for a mediocre keeper as long as he could wield the bat with a measure of assurance. If a choice was to made between two players, one of whom was a slightly better keeper and the other was a slightly better batsman, they would have no hesitation in picking the better batsman. The expectations for the new generation of wicket-keepers were thus set at a very high level compared to that in the past.
Back to the present
These days, we even see a few teams opting for batsmen who can keep wickets over wicket-keepers who can bat. AB de Villiers of South Africa is a prime example of this phenomenon. The same can also perhaps be said of Kamran Akmal of Pakistan, who has managed to make multiple comebacks into the national side despite being far from the best wicket-keeper in the country.
The present decade has seen people like MS Dhoni, Brendon McCullum, Matt Prior, Brad Haddin, etc. feature prominently amongst the new breed of match-winning and ultra-aggressive wicket keeper-batsmen. If we look at the batting averages of wicket-keepers of various international sides in Test cricket, we can see that most of them average in the 40s or close to it, which is indeed a big change from the mid-20 averages seen not so long ago.
The role has been further redefined in today’s age of fast-paced T20 cricket. Keepers, in addition to playing the role of attacking batsmen for their side, also contribute a lot to strategy formulation for the team as they are closest to the playing batsmen. They can, and do, give plenty of valuable advice to the bowler and captain about the right tactic to be adopted for different batsmen. MS Dhoni is a fine example of this, and he has done a great job as skipper of various Indian and T20 league sides.
In conclusion
It seems certain that the role of the wicket-keeper in the game of cricket will continue to evolve, with more responsibilities being added as time passes. But it is important for cricket boards and teams to remember that one cannot compromise with the primary role of a wicket-keeper. After all, “catches win matches”, and a good keeper can effect dismissals which an ordinary fielder cannot.
Though batting skills will continue to be demanded from wicket-keepers, it is important that glove-work, which is one of cricket’s great skills, isn’t given secondary treatment. Only then will this specialized role have the perfect balance, and contribute most effectively to a team’s success.
This article is courtesy www.sportskeeda.com
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