Top 5 Australian wicket keepers of all time
As far as cricketing skills are concerned, wicket-keeping is one of the toughest art to master. But over the years we have witnessed some exceptional wicket-keepers who have done a terrific job behind the stumps for their respective countries.
Over the years Australia has produced some quality wicketkeepers and 3 of them feature in Top 4 list of most dismissals by a wicket Keeper in Test cricket. Not only they have produced quality wicket keepers they have been a top class team over the years and we have witnessed them excelling in each and every department be it batting, bowling or fielding. They were the most dominant side in the world from the late 1990s and their wicketkeepers had a major impact on their success. Their performances have dipped only in the last few years.
Here we bring you five wicket-keepers from Australia who has been an integral part of their team during their playing days and have won laurels for the country,
#-5 Jack Blackham
Known as the “Prince of Wicket keepers” Jack Blackham was the first ever wicket keeper to play for Australia. He was a member of the Australian side that played the first ever Test match against England at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the year 1877 and was also a part of the infamous Ashes Test in the year 1882 . He was a master behind the wicket and revolutionised the art of wicket Keeping.
At the age of 16, he was included in the playing XI for the Carlton Cricket Club and first appeared for the Victorian team in the year 1874. For the next 20 years, he excelled in his art and was the 1st choice wicketkeeper for Victoria.
He was one of the first wicket keepers to stand up to the stumps even to Fast bowlers even when the quality of the gloves in those days were pretty poor comparing with the modern ones. Jack Pollard described the gloves as “little more than gardening gloves”.
He has a total of 37 catches and 24 stumpings in the 35 Tests he played for Australia.