All time Ashes XI: The Keeper.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'll come back to number six when the batting places are settled.

For my keeper, I've picked the eleven biggest wicket takers, and they are listed in order of dismissals. Then added Don Tallon and Les Ames over a couple of unknown keepers from the Victorian age.

These are the batters by batting average. Some of these are not included because they don't have many dismissals. Parks and Phillips have good averages, but scored relatively few runs, and were low on dismissals, so I left them out. Neither scored a ton. Minimum 300 runs.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

These are lists of dismissals per game, minimum 10 games. Aside from Wally Grout, who has a woeful batting average, the best run scorers have the highest wickets per game... So much for specialists?

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... e=fielding

[Aidan11]

No question for me.

Alan "Knotty" Knott although Rod Marsh would have won had he not been transferred to Fulham.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Lilley's usual name is short for Richard. Although his name was actually Arthur. A prolific wicket taker, and for the times (turn of the century), for keepers, useful with the bat. Great 'tache.

Anyway, I went Gilchrist...

Top of both stats lists.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Tempted by Knotty though. All those runs against Lillee and Thomson, and the best England keeper I've seen.

[Arthur Crabtree]

So far, got Hobbs and Sutcliffe opening. 2-0 to England.

[Making_Splinters]

Gilchrist was a fantastic player and arguably the most complete wicketkeeper batsman ever to play that game. That said, Knott was a fantastic gloveman and not too shabby with the bat either. Given the strength of any likely bowling attack, taking as many catches as possible outweighs the extra runs Gilly would score.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Though Gilly will probably be keeping to Warney (rather than Knott to Deadly).

[Gingerfinch]

Went for gilchrist. have you done the number six yet, arthur?

[Arthur Crabtree]

No. I'll come back to that. I'll wait for the voting to finish on four and five and then I'll add the more popular runners up to the number six options, alongside some all rounders, to give the option of having six bats...

[Gingerfinch]

No. I'll come back to that. I'll wait for the voting to finish on four and five and then I'll add the more popular runners up to the number six options, alongside some all rounders, to give the option of having six bats...

Good thinking.

[Aidan11]

I know this is not the right thread for this but it reminded me that last week it was reported former England keeper Bob Taylor had a heart attack.


Get well soon Bob.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes. Hope not a bad one.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Might be some people's pick as best keeper, but didn't play much Ashes cricket. Just the 5-1 in Australia in 78-79, I think.

[Gingerfinch]

Taylor was a better keeper than Knott, apparently.

[Arthur Crabtree]

So they said. He was getting on a bit by the time he got in the England side, but it was hard to say he really was. Knott was a proper keeper. I think people used to say that because Knott didn't stand up much, but he did to Underwood, who was a medium paced spinner and probably wasn't easy to stand up to.