Well your question says wicket keeper, i don't think there are any left in world cricket, they're all batsmen that can hold the gloves these days, although akmal is certainly a bit of a shining light so far, a real test for him will be keeping in NZ and England where the ball dips heavily after passing the batsman dependant on the overhead conditions, certainly why, imo, both countries have had a history of very good 'keepers.

However, if it's a list of wicket keeping batsmen you're after then mine would be:

1. Gilchrist
2. Sangakarra
3. Akmal
4. McCullum
5. Dhoni (picking on reputation and stats alone, haven't seen him play so might change my mind by the summer)

on wicket keeping alone from that lot i'd go:

1. Akmal
2. McCullum
3. Sangakarra
4. Dhoni
5. Gilchrist

I think anyone choosing old ironhands Boucher can only be picking on his starting reputation as since then he's been completely leaden, the only thing in his favour is that he's still quite athletic so can pull off the occasional diving one handed catch, but anyone with the gloves on should be able to do that, it looks spectacular but it's actually not that hard (even i can do it , and yes, it is good fun). It's such a shame that Read showed such poor promise with the bat as he's by far the better keeper out of all that lot, Jones has improved a lot but he's still not in the same league, there are so few wicket keepers out there now that actually take wickets or pressure batsmen, sangakarra comes close but i often feel he's only thinking about his own position rather than placing the slips too, i'm a very harsh judge of wicket keeping as it's my favourite thing in cricket as far as fielding goes.

1. Gilchrist
2. Sangakarra
3. Akmal
4. McCullum
5. Boucher

My Dad says Akmal is now the best keeper, but he knows next to nothing about real cricket! Gilchrist is still no.1, but Akmal has great promise. He has to produce consistently outside Asia before he can be rated accurately.Spot on, Frankie. I've said it before, but I'll repeat it, as many people continue to put forward Boucher as a great keeper ... Boucher's keeping in 2003 was the worst I'd ever seen by a keeper touring England. It was embarrassing at times. Alec Stewart, originally a part-time keeper, playing in his last ever series, at 40 years old and with his body really starting to creak, was still way above Boucher's level of keeping. SA should give the gloves to a guy who can do the job instead of living on reputation.

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SA should let AB De Villiers keep wicket, he does it for his F/C side doesn't he? Bring in another middle order batsmen as Boucher is not in great form and even when on form is nothing special!

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I have gone for 'OTHER'. This is because - although I believe he is flawed with the bat, and does not have a massive international future - Read is maybe the best pure keeper in the world. To be honest I haven't seen too much of many non-English wicketkeepers, and so my judgement is far from accurate, but that is my current take on things.

If you are talking of keeper-batsmen, you should look no further than Gilchrist.

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I totally agree. Akmal is playing awesome at the moment but people need to wait until he has more games under his belt before they can judge on how good he is. He does look like a player of the future though

What about Doni? The Indian ODI keeper who took Gilly's record for the highest ODI score.

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It is a bit early with Dhoni yet Beny as he has only got a couple of tests and to go with the 30 one day games but Akmal has played 18 tests so far and looks the dogs wotsits.I personally will wait till Dhoni has played more tests before a full judgement on him though he looks a decent prospect too.

Nice,

Anyway, I would love to know more about Dhoni, seems like he could be another great Keeper/Batsman,
along with Akmal, there are some good ones out there at the moment...

Why is Sangakarra not on the list?

Maybe because he's clearly no.2 (after Gilchrist) I think Sangakkara is very good. Yes, he should be on the list. It's a while since I've seen him play - his batting seems to be his strength more than his keeping.

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