People often speak about difficult aspects of the game called Cricket. Which one is the most difficult task - batting, bowling, or fielding? Batting requires great skill, bowling requires extensive ability, fielding requires the desire and natural skill. But, what about wicket-keeping? Handling the position behind wickets is as difficult as………….! Wicket-keeper is the one who gets first impression of the wicket. Planning the strategy of match, under sea-saw condition of the match, guessing the batsman’s move and nowadays, taking the judgment on using limited DRS facility, WK plays a very critical role. On a fast track, a good wicket-keeper boosts the confidence of fast bowlers; on a spinning track, the reflexes of wicket-keeper steal the wicket of batsman, even on a narrow margin stumping. He sometimes acts as a catalyst with sledging stuff to disturb the batsman.
Balance of any team depends on two key players, one - genuine all-rounder and two - wicket-keeper batsman (ask India the value of a WK batsman, before they found Dhoni...). All the great teams at their peak, had best wicket-keeper with good batting skills. Pak had Moin Khan; New Zealand had Adam Parore; Aussies had Rodney Marsh, Gilchrist; Zimbabwe had Andy Flower; Sri Lanka had Kaluwitharna, and currently the elegant Sanga; India had Kirmani; England had Alan Knot, Alec Stewart; West Indies had Jeff Dujon; and South Africa had Boucher!
Introduced in 1997 as successor of Dave Richardson, Mark Boucher showed his skills and ability, not only in keeping wickets, but also as a batsman right from the start. In ODI's, he played the role of pinch-hitter to great effect. His characteristic as a batsman was his typical On-Drive and Slog-Sweep. He always added extra and useful runs in coordination with lower order batsmen. South Africa was always rich with bowling all-rounders, so his contribution, most of the time, got sidelined. We discuss about Sachin’s 100th century, records surpassed by the batsman, record number of tests played by a player, maximum wickets taken by a bowler... But Boucher played 147 Tests in 15 years and reached to the record number of dismissals in Tests (555) and ODI's (425), without any bang. Though he was not a high profile cricketer, throughout his career, he kept himself out of any controversy or fame, but KEPT very well behind the wicket in a quiet way.
Tribute to “Bouch” for his contribution to the game and cricket S. Africa!
Ritesh R. Kadam
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
Cell:- 9011020015
Balance of any team depends on two key players, one - genuine all-rounder and two - wicket-keeper batsman (ask India the value of a WK batsman, before they found Dhoni...). All the great teams at their peak, had best wicket-keeper with good batting skills. Pak had Moin Khan; New Zealand had Adam Parore; Aussies had Rodney Marsh, Gilchrist; Zimbabwe had Andy Flower; Sri Lanka had Kaluwitharna, and currently the elegant Sanga; India had Kirmani; England had Alan Knot, Alec Stewart; West Indies had Jeff Dujon; and South Africa had Boucher!
Introduced in 1997 as successor of Dave Richardson, Mark Boucher showed his skills and ability, not only in keeping wickets, but also as a batsman right from the start. In ODI's, he played the role of pinch-hitter to great effect. His characteristic as a batsman was his typical On-Drive and Slog-Sweep. He always added extra and useful runs in coordination with lower order batsmen. South Africa was always rich with bowling all-rounders, so his contribution, most of the time, got sidelined. We discuss about Sachin’s 100th century, records surpassed by the batsman, record number of tests played by a player, maximum wickets taken by a bowler... But Boucher played 147 Tests in 15 years and reached to the record number of dismissals in Tests (555) and ODI's (425), without any bang. Though he was not a high profile cricketer, throughout his career, he kept himself out of any controversy or fame, but KEPT very well behind the wicket in a quiet way.
Tribute to “Bouch” for his contribution to the game and cricket S. Africa!
Ritesh R. Kadam
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
Cell:- 9011020015
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