Carey dropped another catch for Oz yesterday. He went one-handed and the ball hit his glove near the wrist. In the last Test, a Buttler nick between Carey and first slip was left by both. Buttler then batted for roughly 200 balls. Media say Carey has problems.
Buttler himself has had some atrocious drops this series.
Pope has been subbed on and is now keeping for England. Pope is a batsman, not a wicketkeeper! (Buttler and Bairstow have hand injuries. Billings has been called into the squad as back-up: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/mens ... up-1295832 .** It'll be funny if Pope ends up with 5 or 6 catches. He already has 3 this innings.*) Pope has kept for England's Test side before.
These are just part of a bigger problem with wicketkeeping in international cricket. Obviously, it's related to the death of Test batting and the death of Test cricket.
* Update: Pope ended with 3 catches and one drop (a hard chance, where Khawaja's edge deflected off the glove of Pope, up at the stumps to the spinner).
** Update: Billings is in England's Test team for the 5th Test.
Death of wicketkeeping?
Jos Buttler criticised by Matt Prior for "lazy wicketkeeping"
16/12/2021
"First, he was dropped down the leg side after Buttler dived despairingly to his left before the England 'keeper spilt a routine chance from James Anderson's final over the day.
Prior, who played 79 Tests..., had picked up on Buttler's lack of foot movement towards the end of the day and wasn't surprised to see him shell the chance when it came.
"Everyone thinks it is the hands that get you the catch. It is not. It's your footwork and your feet and the hands just follow. You've got to do the work with your legs.
"There were a couple of takes down the leg side when he had a dive with a bit of a fall and a flop and that is lazy wicketkeeping.
...
"As a keeper, you want to dive as little as possible, you want your feet to do the work to get you there and it just looked like his energy levels were dropping.""
(The Cricketer)
16/12/2021
"First, he was dropped down the leg side after Buttler dived despairingly to his left before the England 'keeper spilt a routine chance from James Anderson's final over the day.
Prior, who played 79 Tests..., had picked up on Buttler's lack of foot movement towards the end of the day and wasn't surprised to see him shell the chance when it came.
"Everyone thinks it is the hands that get you the catch. It is not. It's your footwork and your feet and the hands just follow. You've got to do the work with your legs.
"There were a couple of takes down the leg side when he had a dive with a bit of a fall and a flop and that is lazy wicketkeeping.
...
"As a keeper, you want to dive as little as possible, you want your feet to do the work to get you there and it just looked like his energy levels were dropping.""
(The Cricketer)
‘You’ve got to back it up’: Mistakes mounting for Carey
Jan 9, 2022
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/yo ... 59mwn.html
"... there is a good reason why only six of Australia’s 34 male Test stumpers have had a tenure longer than 50 games.
...
The mistakes are mounting for Carey, who dropped two simple chances in Sydney after letting two go in Melbourne and Adelaide.
His struggles to step up to the top level is yet another reminder of how undervalued Paine was with both the gloves and the bat. Though the Tasmanian did not score a Test century, only Gilchrist and Brad Haddin averaged more than his 32.63.
The common thread in Carey’s mistakes is they have all been with balls to his right. A marginally wider spacing with David Warner at first slip has minimised the chance of a communication breakdown, but his movement to take nicks from the outside edge of the right-hander is off.
“Technically he had a bit of an Achilles’ heel, Alex Carey, this series, just low to his right,” Haddin said on Triple M. “As the replay’s showing there now, he’s very flat-footed when he goes … you’re meant to be pushing hard off that left foot.
“All he’s doing, he’s dropping his right leg to make way. He’s not getting any power to go and get power out of that left foot to go for that catch.”
Gilchrist also pointed out the same technical flaws but urged critics to show patience..."
Jan 9, 2022
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/yo ... 59mwn.html
"... there is a good reason why only six of Australia’s 34 male Test stumpers have had a tenure longer than 50 games.
...
The mistakes are mounting for Carey, who dropped two simple chances in Sydney after letting two go in Melbourne and Adelaide.
His struggles to step up to the top level is yet another reminder of how undervalued Paine was with both the gloves and the bat. Though the Tasmanian did not score a Test century, only Gilchrist and Brad Haddin averaged more than his 32.63.
The common thread in Carey’s mistakes is they have all been with balls to his right. A marginally wider spacing with David Warner at first slip has minimised the chance of a communication breakdown, but his movement to take nicks from the outside edge of the right-hander is off.
“Technically he had a bit of an Achilles’ heel, Alex Carey, this series, just low to his right,” Haddin said on Triple M. “As the replay’s showing there now, he’s very flat-footed when he goes … you’re meant to be pushing hard off that left foot.
“All he’s doing, he’s dropping his right leg to make way. He’s not getting any power to go and get power out of that left foot to go for that catch.”
Gilchrist also pointed out the same technical flaws but urged critics to show patience..."
Sadly, Alex Carey cost the Strikers a spot in the BBL final.
He was out third ball of the Strikers' innings. That's okay. But then he let off Kerr by fluffing a simple stumping chance first ball of the Sixers' innings. Kerr then scored 98* (58 ) and was MOTM. The Sixers won off the final ball of the match.
Both incidents are in this highlights video:
https://www.cricket.com.au/video/sydney ... 2022-01-26
He was out third ball of the Strikers' innings. That's okay. But then he let off Kerr by fluffing a simple stumping chance first ball of the Sixers' innings. Kerr then scored 98* (58 ) and was MOTM. The Sixers won off the final ball of the match.
Both incidents are in this highlights video:
https://www.cricket.com.au/video/sydney ... 2022-01-26
From the 1st Ashes Test at Edgbaston...
K (4 Aug, 2019, 9:21pm) wrote:And Bairstow misses a stumping as Denly spins the ball past Head!
...
It's gobsmacking that these fake keepers' technical errors are so simple... "Staying down" is something every keeper must know. They must practise it. How can they not even do that??K (9:56pm) wrote:They are now discussing Bairstow's poor keeping, watching a series of Bairstow blunders they've compiled.
Sangakkara explains that you cannot literally "stay down", and goes on to say what it really means. (It's about the eye line.) Kumar says he judges keepers on how they keep in spinning conditions like this.
On the missed stumping, Sangakkara says a good keeper like Tim Paine would pull it off 3 times out of 5. It's a matter of practice, he says.
Ian Healy on Pakistan:
“The carry in our day wasn’t good, so when you’re keeping to the fast bowlers you’re uncomfortably close to the stumps.
“Then you add late swing, whether that be reverse or normal, you had yours hands full keeping to the quicks rather than the spinners. I would have found it very difficult to keep to Wasim and Waqar who were swinging it so late. They are more of the challenges I see and I experienced than spin.
“You also need to be mindful of where you want to be standing … it is difficult to keep to, especially if you get nicks.”
...
'Healy rated Carey’s first summer “a pass … just”...'
Healy: “I think he hardened up throughout the summer when he got tired and nervous. Pakistan is certainly not place for nerves. It’s a place for one ball at a time over long periods because they’re good batting wickets.”
...
“You’ve got to be really athletic and light in your body and mind.
“He’s got to get back to very, very good practice habits. Don’t overdo it. You could practice low body height, moving sideways in a low position. You’ve got to use good leg strength which will enable your gloves to be natural and softer.
“He’s got to master practice so when your rhythm gets thrown, he’ll be right and he can concentrate and relax more.
“He’ll need to be sharp and light and really enjoy the challenge. The challenge is not as big as many will make it out to be. Pakistan can produce very good wickets.
“You also have to be careful where your slips cordon is. You have to tighten up a little bit. If edges come, they come fast and probably low.”
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ti ... 5a0ds.html
“The carry in our day wasn’t good, so when you’re keeping to the fast bowlers you’re uncomfortably close to the stumps.
“Then you add late swing, whether that be reverse or normal, you had yours hands full keeping to the quicks rather than the spinners. I would have found it very difficult to keep to Wasim and Waqar who were swinging it so late. They are more of the challenges I see and I experienced than spin.
“You also need to be mindful of where you want to be standing … it is difficult to keep to, especially if you get nicks.”
...
'Healy rated Carey’s first summer “a pass … just”...'
Healy: “I think he hardened up throughout the summer when he got tired and nervous. Pakistan is certainly not place for nerves. It’s a place for one ball at a time over long periods because they’re good batting wickets.”
...
“You’ve got to be really athletic and light in your body and mind.
“He’s got to get back to very, very good practice habits. Don’t overdo it. You could practice low body height, moving sideways in a low position. You’ve got to use good leg strength which will enable your gloves to be natural and softer.
“He’s got to master practice so when your rhythm gets thrown, he’ll be right and he can concentrate and relax more.
“He’ll need to be sharp and light and really enjoy the challenge. The challenge is not as big as many will make it out to be. Pakistan can produce very good wickets.
“You also have to be careful where your slips cordon is. You have to tighten up a little bit. If edges come, they come fast and probably low.”
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ti ... 5a0ds.html
No one is expecting a keeper to be "flawless". You should be asking who my "good" keeper is.
The whole point of this thread is that current keepers are almost all very bad. It's sad watching the trash that passes for wicketkeeping nowadays. Pakistan's wicketkeeper missed two chances in the same session the other day. Sadly that's not even surprising.
Tim Paine was good. Is there any chance of an international return? Further back, Ian Healy was very good... but still not the best Oz keeper in his time.
And obviously Gilchrist's brilliant batting overshadowed his keeping... But his keeping was easily good enough for a specialist keeper.
For other countries... England's last very good keeper was Jack Russell. (Not counting Foakes here. Dunno enough about him to make the call on him.)
The whole point of this thread is that current keepers are almost all very bad. It's sad watching the trash that passes for wicketkeeping nowadays. Pakistan's wicketkeeper missed two chances in the same session the other day. Sadly that's not even surprising.
Tim Paine was good. Is there any chance of an international return? Further back, Ian Healy was very good... but still not the best Oz keeper in his time.
And obviously Gilchrist's brilliant batting overshadowed his keeping... But his keeping was easily good enough for a specialist keeper.
For other countries... England's last very good keeper was Jack Russell. (Not counting Foakes here. Dunno enough about him to make the call on him.)