Ranking the top 10 wicketkeeper-batsmen of all time

6. Alec Stewart (England)

Alec Stewart

Although he doesn’t boast an exceptional average – about 39 in Tests and 31 in ODIs – Stewart is still considered to be one of the most prolific keeper-batsman England has ever produced.

The most capped Test player of all time in England, Stewart gloved 263 catches behind the stumps in Tests and 159 in ODIs, besides affecting close to 29 stumpings across both formats prior to his retirement from the international scene in 2003.

5. Andy Flower (Zimbabwe)

Andy Flower

A batsman from a minnow team, but richer in class and compassion than the heavyweights. Yes, Andy Flower was a high class veteran from Zimbabwe who showed that his batting was no fluke; he reflected a very high degree of batsmanship, much like any other great of his era.

Flower captained a team that was not expected not to get anything better than, if at all, honourable defeats. Much happened as expected. But his personal performance during his career is commendable.

He averaged 51.54 in the 63 Tests which he played and had over 6,000 ODI runs under his belt too. One of the highlights of his career was his total of 540 runs against India during the Test series in India in 2000, which bears testimony to his talent.

Though his keeping can be said to be decent at best, he still gloved close to 150 catches behind the stumps across both formats and affected over 30 stumpings in Test Cricket.