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Unsung heroes

Mohandas Menon

Keeping wickets is perhaps the most important aspect of the game, but yet it has been the most underrated of all the cricketing jobs. Unlike a batsman, bowler or a fielder, the keeper's job has always been tough since he has to concentrate throughout the complete innings without a momentary lapse in concentration.

Altough in the limited version his job is less demanding than in the five-day version, he still has to ensure the same kind of attention to every ball that is bowled by his colleagues.

In today's cricket its even more demanding. A keeper is also an all-rounder in the side. He also has to bat at any position that may be required of him.

In the World Cup his role is no exception. In the 158 matches played to date in the six editions of the World Cup as many as 48 wicket-keepers have represented their respective countries. In all they have scored 3816 runs at an average of 20.85 runs per innings. They have scored these runs at a strike rate of 69.14 runs per 100 balls.

Interestingly, only two hundreds have been scored by the keepers - both by Zimbabweans. Dave Houghton, 141 against New Zealand at Hyderabad (I) in 1987 and 115 not out by Andy Flower against Sri Lanka at New Plymouth in 1992. Incidentally, Flower was making his international debut for Zimbabwe. Other than the above two hundreds, 14 scores of 'fifties' have been achieved by keepers, with Houghton achieving three such scores.

In the terms of run aggregates among keepers, Houghton leads by a long way with 401 runs (avg 33.42) in 12 matches. He is followed by fellow Zimbabwean Andy Flower. TableA lists the keeper-batsman with run aggregates of 100 or more runs, along with their batting strike-rate (runs scored off 100 balls).

TABLE A: WICKET-KEEPER'S PERFORMANCE AS A BATSMAN IN THE
                WORLD CUP

Wicketkeeper Country M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 0 SR
DL Houghton Zim 12 12 0 401 141 33.42 1 3 3 71.61
A Flower Zim 14 14 3 295 115* 26.82 1 - - 62.77
AJ Stewart Eng 10 8 1 259 77 37.00 - 2 - 70.19
RW Marsh Aus 11 11 4 220 52* 31.43 - 2 1 85.94
LK Germon NZ 6 6 3 191 89 63.67 - 1 - 84.89
RG de Alwis SL 6 6 3 167 59* 55.67 - 2 - 105.03
IDS Smith NZ 17 13 3 138 29 13.80 - - 1 132.69
K Otieno Ken 3 3 0 126 85 42.00 - 1 - 56.25
DL Murray WI 9 5 2 122 61* 40.67 - 1 - 76.25
PJL Dujon WI 14 9 1 112 46 14.00 - - - 46.86
Salim Yousuf Pak 7 6 3 112 56 37.33 - 1 - 121.74
IA Healy Aus 14 11 2 110 31 12.22 - - 1 88.00
KS More Ind 14 10 5 100 42* 20.00 - - 1 116.28

To Pakistani Wasim Bari goes the distinction of claiming the maximum dismissals in the World Cup. He has 22 dismissals (18 catches + 4 stumpings) in 14 matches. West Indian David Williams has the unique distinction of conceding just a single "bye" while keeping wickets in 8 matches during the 1565 runs scored by the opponents. His average of 0.06 for every bye conceded every 100 runs is the lowest among keepers who have appeared in more than 5 matches. However, Dutch keeper Marcel Schewe in the five matches he kept wickets during the 1996 World Cup did not concede a single bye while his opponents scored 1285 runs. Table B lists keepers with most dismissals in the World Cup.

TABLE B: CAREER PERFORMANCES AS A KEEPER IN THE WORLD CUP

Wicketkeeper Dism For M Ct St byes Runs byes/100runs Dism/Match St/Dism
Wasim Bari 22 Pak 14 18 4 6 3097 0.19 1.57 18.18
IA Healy 21 Aus 14 18 3 12 2865 0.42 1.50 14.29
PJL DujonL 20 WI 14 19 1 42 2999 1.40 1.43 5.00
RW Marsh 18 Aus 11 17 1 16 2472 0.65 1.64 5.56
KS More 18 Ind 14 12 6 15 2676 0.56 1.29 33.33
DL Murray 16 WI 9 16 0 13 1822 0.71 1.78 0.00
DJ Richardson 15 SA 9 14 1 3 1689 0.18 1.67 6.67
SMH Kirmani 14 Ind 8 12 2 6 1702 0.35 1.75 14.29
Moin Khan 14 Pak 10 11 3 13 1912 0.68 1.40 21.43
D Williams 14 WI 8 11 3 1 1565 0.06 1.75 21.43
IJ Gould 12 Eng 7 11 1 22 1518 1.45 1.71 8.33
DL Houghton 12 Zim 12 10 2 11 2612 0.42 1.00 16.67
GC Dyer 11 Aus 8 9 2 11 1818 0.61 1.38 18.18
WK Lees 10 NZ 8 10 0 12 1789 0.67 1.25 0.00


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