England Cricket / Editor / 03 May 2007 /

England named two wicket keepers in their performance squad for this summer's internationals, neither of whom have played Test cricket. Paul Nixon and Matt Prior have both experienced the One Day arena, and the selectors are under more pressure than ever to plan better in the shorter form of the game, but the place of Test wicket keeper is the one that they desperately want to fill.

Nixon is effectively the man in possession after his impressive World Cup displays, but the selection of Sussex favourite Prior in Peter Moores' first England squad suggests a familiar battle between traditional gloveman and specialist batsman is about to be waged.

They are the modern incarnations of the two men who generally shared England's wicket keeping duties during the 1990's. Jack Russell will see much of himself in county stalwart Nixon, the man nicknamed 'Badger' whose eccentricities and improvised batting are often part of the specialist keeper's package.

Prior is very much in the mould of Alec Stewart: the dashing stroke maker who would prefer to open the batting and stand in the slips - keeping wicket is more of a chore than a pleasure.

This is of course an over-simplified division between keeper and batsman - Stewart's glovework was hugely underrated - but the first class averages of these players suggests the selectors do once again face this choice. Stewart and Prior's respective averages are 40.06 and 38.46, Russell and Nixon's 30.93 and 32.9.

Wicket keepers are expected to score more runs than ever, so the Sussex man could be given a chance by the end of the summer. Geraint Jones' lapses behind the stumps were excused as long as he was scoring heavily, but as he was jettisoned soon as the runs dried up. Improved glovework could not mask the fact that a declining Test average of 23.91 was insufficient in today's run-dominated game.

Chris Read, still the choice of the wicket keeping purists, looks to be out of the frame as well. His confidence was surely undermined by his sudden recall and axing last year, although the change in management might provide hope. However, his batting is considered as unreliable as his keeping is thought to be faultless. He averages 18.94 from 15 Tests and might have another long wait on the sidelines.

England are not alone in searching for a keeper capable of scoring heavily, although the other seven major Test playing nations have been more successful in this mission. Australia are fortunate to have Adam Gilchrist behind the stumps, a once-in-a-lifetime cricketer whose 17 Test tons and average of 48.66 would demand a batting spot regardless of his keeping duties.

Kumar Sangakkara is another genuine frontline batsman (ranked fourth in the world with Test average above 50), whilst Mark Boucher, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kamran Akmal, Brendon McCullum and Dinesh Ramdin are all ranked above Read and Jones in batting terms. All of those keepers, apart from Ramdin, have batted in the top five in ODIs.

However, only Gilchrist, Sangakkara and Boucher are guaranteed selections, suggesting that experience plays a part in the make-up of the successful international keeper. Those three have over 250 Test appearances between them, whilst none of the others have made more than 40 or are aged over 26.

Their averages range between 26.22 (Ramdin) and 32.13 (McCullum), suggesting time might be running out some, as it did for Jones (dropped after 34 Tests) and Read (15).

Planning for the future by keeping faith with a young player learning his trade can adversely affect current achievements, and it is a dilemma England might seek to avoid by going with 36 year old Nixon, who was a hit in the World Cup with his battling attitude and calmness under pressure.

The two other main candidates know all about being touted for wicket keeping success early in their careers. James Foster was a 21 year old with a handful of first class games behind him when he was selected for England's tours to Zimbabwe and India in 2001.

Foster's possible second coming would give more time to Steven Davies to develop; the Worcestershire stopper reaches 21 during the third Test of the summer and is considered by many as England's long-term answer to the wicket keeping dilemma.

Both players average around 35 in first class cricket and were well clear in last season's dismissal charts, claiming 68 first class victims apiece. Only the batting part of the role can be properly analysed in statistical terms, so the selectors must take a close-up look at the keeping; Foster and Read seem to have the edge over the others in this department, but weight of runs looks like being the deciding factor.

This has become especially important in the wake of England's batting woes in Australia. Good platforms were so often thrown away though a collapse, due largely to Andrew Flintoff's lack of form with the bat and the weakness of a long tail.

Flintoff averaged 40.2 with the bat in the 2005 Ashes (thanks in part to his sixth wicket partnership with Jones) but only 28.22 Down Under last time around. This meant that the fall of the fifth wicket was generally followed soon after by the last: England's tailenders managed 242 runs at 8.07 per wicket in the last series, compared to Australia's 356 at 23.73.

One of Moores' first jobs as coach will therefore be to rejuvenate Flintoff's batting. The big all-rounder now averages 32.5 with the bat in Tests and a continuation of his wretched World Cup form would surely see him drop down from number six in the order.

This only strengthens Prior's case, as he would be more likely to hold his own in England's top six. The selectors might be unrealistic in hoping for the new keeper to match Stewart's Test average of 39.54 (34.92 when keeping), but they will expect a level of consistency with the bat that has been absent since Stewart's retirement in 2003.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>