Talking of present best wicket keepers, every cricket lover would talk of Adam Gilchrist , Brendon McCullum or Kumar Sangakkara. However, South African Mark Boucher’s haul of 395 test wickets speaks well of, what a great keeper he is.
The versatile Boucher who consistently adapts in all forms of the game reached the feat with a smart stumping to dismiss Pakistan’s Umar Gul at ongoing test-series and broke Ian Healy’s record to become the wicket-keeper with most number of dismissals in Test arena.
Standing in his 103rd Test which includes 378 catches and 18 stumpings and is 16 matches fewer than it took Healy to get to the figure.
Playing primarily on seamer-friendly tracks to average over two dismissals per Test innings, Boucher is second-best among the top-five most successful keepers.
Talking on the landmark achieved Boucher said,
It’s a great feeling to have broken the record, especially of someone who I used to watch on television as a schoolboy. Healy was great and I used to love the way he kept.
In a way it’s a great feeling, but it is also sad to break such a good keeper’s record. I have played enough Tests so if you play over 100 Tests, records come your way.
Boucher though under-rated cricketers of the present era, his glovework in conjunction with floundering batting especially in the ODIs has rescued Proteas on numerous occasions.
Personally, I would rate him the No.1 keeper. With sheer age of 30, he should be far ahead of the leading pack of finest wicket-keepers at the time he is done with Test cricket.
Via: BBC
