Ashes Squad

[Teatime FatCat]

Even Gilchrist is no Gilchrist any more, and I feel that Akmal and Dhoni are no great shakes when having to bat sensibly and carefully under pressure.

I still feel no8 is probably Read's best place, although I'm happy for him to prove me wrong!!

[Notts Exile]

Originally Posted by Collyisamackem

Everyone wants a Gilchrist now, that's why Jones was dropped and every test number 7 will be expected to score multiple hundreds, whether or not they also happen to keep.

These things go in cycles. At some point some coach will work out that his keeper, although scoring the runs, is costing his team with poor keeping. How many teams really have a Gilchrist? The Sri Lankans sure do but the others are very poor imitations. Dhoni might be destructive on his day but he's very inconsistent and a pretty poor keeper. McCullum isn't great behind the stumps. The Windies have never needed a decent keeper with all their quickies but now find themselves short of one. South Africa persist with old iron-gloves. Kamran Akmal's performances with the gloves this summer have been terrible.

The jury will be out on Read until he can score a Test hundred. Even then, many will not be convinced.

[glamorgan_dragons]

But there are lots of great English keepers, e.g Geraint Jones, Chris Read, Mark Foster, Mark Wallace and Matt prior etc. So its hard to say who is the best out of all of them, we need to pick a keeper who is going to perform not just with the gloves but with the bat. Maybe not scoring 30-50 each innings but getting around 40's and 50's in most innings.

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by glamorgan_dragons

But there are lots of great English keepers, e.g Geraint Jones, Chris Read, Mark Foster, Mark Wallace and Matt prior etc. So its hard to say who is the best out of all of them.

No. There is one decent English 'keeper (Read), at least one (but possibly more) who is / are passable (Foster, Jones on a good day)... and assorted indifferent batsmen who also occasionally (and for no very obvious reason) wear gloves on the basis that they are passable slip catchers (e.g. Prior, Jones on a bad day).

Let's get one thing straight though: not even Read can yet claim to be a great English 'keeper... he's yet to prove worthy of mention in the same breath as Russell let alone of a true great like Godfrey Evans!