HEADLINE: “WEST INDIES ALL-TIME MEN’S TEST TEAM – A WICKET-KEEPER PLEASE!”

In reply to Dukes

Well I would have Lance in my team as I believe that an all time XI should be picked so that they same team plays in any condition. So for me a spinner is a must and Gibbs is the best WI spinner.

Lance preference may be Hendricks but Hendricks still doesn't make me team.

What can you tell me about Walcott's keeping? I haven't come across much about his keeping ability.

In reply to Dukes


that's why sobers in on my list, the only pre 1970 player at that. as i said, sobers mastered the best that two generations of international cricket had to offer, two worlds that were polar opposites at that. Trueman was aggressive yes, but like most english pacemen, there was a limit to his nastiness and venom. I remember Ian Chappell, of all people, saying in a documentary, that he thanked god that lillee didn't have the pace of jeff thomson because somebody would have been killed. Typhoon tyson had extreme pace but no batsman got injured by him the way thomson and lillee frequently injured batsmen. That's why i said i'd find it difficult to put a pre-70s player other than sobers on my list. The exponential increase in aggression pioneered by the Chappell gang coupled with the receding of the gentlemanly traits that underpinned the pre-professional game would have presented a massive challenge to players not expecting it

In reply to analyst-kid


i actually thought it was a strange statement at first. then i checked the stats. fredo averaged 42 as a batsman. his average in wsc was 34 though. he didn't even score a hundred. Ditto with lawrence rowe, at times the best batsman of the early 70s and went to the infamous 1975 tour down under averaging over 70

In reply to analyst-kid



was such batter was none other than The Babu, Rohan Kanhai!

In 1971 World XI vs Australia at Pert when the rampaging Dennis Lillee single handedly destroyed the world XI for 59 in the first inning taking 8/29. The Babu was the only one who countered Lillee in the second inning by scoring 118. The team went on to make 279 in that second inning. Lillee took 4/63 in the second inning.

In reply to googley

I am curious, any other sequence of knocks by Khanai that would back up your claim that "such batter was none other than The Babu"? I too was excited by Fredericks' 169 at Perth but need more body of work to acclaim him the one. I wait....

In reply to Jumpstart

How can you pick an all-time team but exclude greats from certain eras? Logical reasoning is that most greats would have the talent, skill and nous to adjust their game to whatever rules, conditions and opposition they faced

In reply to Brerzerk



In any sport, when referring to former top players, all of them are considered great.

Was Hendricks a great player?
No
Then why is he listed in any All-time team?

The reason why Bradman and Headley are listed, they were the best in the era they played.

In reply to openning



There has NEVER been a GREAT WICKETKEEPER!!!!!!!!!
Only BATSMEN and BOWLERS ARE GREAT!!!!!

Gilchrist is a GREAT BATSMAN who kept wicket!!!!!!

In reply to Dukes


Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara were two great players.
In the era when Hendrick played, he was not considered one of the world's best; that's how you become part of the ICC's player of the year and in line to be great.
As a Steeler, we had the Iron Curtain, 2 great receivers, 2 great linebackers, all of them are in the Hall of Fame, most of them will be among the NFL's greatest.
You are naming Hendrick because of former players telling you about his wicketkeeping, but will they select him in an All-time West Indies team?
I doubt it.

In reply to openning



I am naming Hendriks as the best ever West Indies wicketkeeper I have ever seen BECAUSE HE WAS THE BEST EVER WI WICKETKEEPER I HAVE SEEN.
The fact that Umpire Kippins and CLIVE LLOYD named him in their all-time WI teams merely adds legitimacy to my views but are not causative.
My views on wicketkeepers is consistent from childhood.I study cricket deeply and put a lot of thought into it.
The two skills I greatly admire in cricket are wrist spin and wicketkeeping.
I look at wicketkeepers very closely and I am different from most people in that I think you should pick your best wicketkeeper in red ball cricket. I look at wicketkeeping technique whereas most people do not have a clue as to what that means.
It is my opinion that the two best wicketkeepers in the region are Tevin Imlach and Carlon Bowen-Tuckett.

Why the hard-hitting Bramble not mentioned... It's Friday..