Wicket-keepers to have taken a wicket over the last 40 years

In international cricket’s 137-year history, a wicket-keeper taking his gloves off and bowling has been an extremely rare occurrence. What has been even rarer is the wicket-keeper, then, going on to take a wicket or two.There have been only 26 glovemen to have discharged their wicket-keeping duties and bowled at least an over in the same match across all the three formats of the game. Out of those, only 11 have managed to take a wicket or more. Here are the 6 wicket-keepers to have achieved this unique feat over the last 40 years:

#1 MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni, perhaps, could have been a very useful part-time seam bowler for India had he decided to concentrate a bit more on his bowling. He certainly showed his usefulness when he took his pads off and bowled a couple of overs in a Champions Trophy encounter against West Indies in 2009. With the West Indies in deep trouble at 49/4 after 16 overs on a seaming pitch, Dhoni gave the gloves to Dinesh Karthik and decided to bowl himself. The move paid off immediately as he clean-bowled No.4 batsman Travis Dowlin with a delivery that tailed in and beat Dowlin for pace.

Dhoni would have certainly added to that tally if not for the Decision Review System (DRS). Kevin Pietersen had been adjudged caught behind off the bowling of Dhoni during the Lord’s Test in 2011, but Pietersen was saved by the Decision Review System, thereby denying Dhoni his maiden Test wicket.

#2 Mark Boucher

One of the dullest Test matches of all time between West Indies and South Africa in Antigua in 2005 came to life when Mark Boucher took the wicket of Dwayne Bravo off just his eighth, and what turned out to be his last, delivery in Test cricket.

On an extremely flat pitch, South Africa posted a total of 588 on the board with AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince all scoring centuries. In reply, West Indies racked up a colossal score of 747 courtesy of Chris Gayle’s triple hundred in addition to hundreds from Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo. Despite the docile nature of the 22 yards, Bravo contrived to get out to Boucher’s slow-medium although it was obvious by that stage that the match was heading towards a tame draw.

#3 Tatenda Taibu

The Test match between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004 ended in agony for the Zimbabweans as they lost by an innings 240 runs, but Tatenda Taibu, I’m sure, would have some fond memories from the match in question. After all, he took his first and only Test wicket of Sanath Jayasuriya in this match, albeit after Jayasuriya had already made 157.

The fact that Taibu had been given the ball wasn’t a huge surprise, though, as he had taken 2/42 from 10 overs in an ODI against the same opposition a few days earlier. Thilina Kandamby and Upul Chandana were the two Sri Lankan batsmen to suffer the ignominy on that occasion.

#4 Syed Kirmani

With there being no chance of a positive result, Syed Kirmani was given a bowl in the Test match between India and Pakistan in Nagpur in 1983. The fact that opening batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Anushman Gaekwad also bowled a couple of overs between them in that innings gives you a fair idea of the state of the match. But unlike the two opening batsmen, Kirmani managed to get a wicket as he dismissed Azeem Hafeez, who opened the batting in the 2nd innings, for 18. It’s no surprise, then, that Hafeez was in the side for his bowling and had a paltry batting average of 8.37 in his Test career.

#5 Devon Thomas

West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Devon Thomas would have known little that he would make a significant contribution on his ODI debut against Bangladesh not with the bat or gloves but with the ball instead.

With fast bowler Kemar Roach taken out of the bowling attack due to a second no-ball above waist-height, Thomas was brought into the bowling attack to fill in for Roach. And he did so spectacularly as he dismissed Mahmadullah off just his second ball in ODI cricket and followed it up with the wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim a few deliveries later.

Thomas, who hadn’t got an opportunity to bat earlier in the match and wasn’t able to effect a single dismissal behind the stumps, by taking the wickets of Rahim and Mahmadullah, seemed to have turned the match on its head, but it unfortunately wasn’t the case as Bangladesh ended up chasing the target of 275 with an over to spare.

#6 Taslim Arif

Pakistan wicket-keeper Taslim Arif played just 6 Tests for his country, all of which came in the year 1980, but that was enough for Arif to become one of a very few number of cricketers to take a wicket while also having stood behind the stumps during the game.

Arif achieved this feat during a Test match against Australia in Lahore when he took the wicket of Graeme Beard with the match heading towards a predictable draw. Beard had made 49 before getting dismissed, but the Australian selectors clearly didn’t think too highly of Beard getting out to Arif as he never played a Test for Australia thereafter.

Arif, however, could consider himself unfortunate not to have added to his 6 Test appearances as he averaged 62.62 in his Test career, with a double hundred against Australia in Faisalabad being the highlight.