Greatest wicket-keepers of all time: Alec Stewart

In the game of cricket, barring a wicket-keeper, every other player of the playing XI can afford to relax a bit. A wicket-keeper is required to have his focus firmly fixed on the happenings of the game, ball by ball, sans any type of distraction. A little loss of focus can cost his team dearly. But as spectators, we hardly notice the importance of this area as we lay our attention completely on what transpires within the 22 yards, which is the battleground between a bowler and a batsman. Until a batsman gets caught behind or stumped, we never realize the presence of the man behind the stumps, do we? Ironically, that credit also goes to the bowler against whose name the numbers get added in the wicket column. Other than a statistician, no one else keeps track of the numbers which belong to a wicket-keeper. Once in a while, only when commentators reveal certain records related to the keepers, do we get to know about them. Otherwise, our minds never really keep stock of those statistics.

If a man who does this laborious job wants to hog the limelight, then it is not enough if he sticks to his activities behind the stumps. Instead, it will be appreciable if he can manage a bit of batting too. It is always better to be a wicket-keeper batsman rather than being a ‘keeper alone – never mind if you are a ‘keeper who can bat, or a batsman who can keep. So when you add one more skill to your repertoire, you stand a chance to be recognized in your lesser-known area too. That was precisely the advice given to former English cricketer Alec Stewart by his father, and it paid rich dividends. When the young Stewart was still a developing cricketer, it is said, it was his father who urged him to equip himself with wicket-keeping abilities as well.

In an interview which was published in The Telegraph eight years after his retirement, Stewart said that if someone was aspiring to become a wicket-keeper, then it was imperative for him to be able to do a batsman’s role at least at the number 7 spot in the batting order. Also, he made it clear that a keeper-batsman would never be absolved if he continued dropping catches behind the stumps just because he had been scoring runs as a batsman. What we can understand from that statement is that a lackadaisical approach in either one of the departments could risk the place in the team for a keeper, be it in any team.

If any player has the right to make such a strong statement, it has to be Alec Stewart. Long before the advent of Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist, this player from Surrey excelled both as a keeper and as a front-line batsman. Having practised keeping on the bouncy tracks of Perth as a teenager, the art of catching with the webbed gloves came very naturally to him. Also, having trained under Allan Knott, who was his coach, he became even more adept at this art.

When Alec Stewart debuted for England in an ODI match against the West Indies in the year 1989, he donned the role of a batsman alone. He was not handed the keeping job back then, though occasionally he did get opportunities to play the dual role. However, when the English selectors felt the necessity to lengthen the batting order, they decided to give the responsibility of keeping wickets to him. Though as a keeper he wasn’t as skilled as Jack Russell, Stewart was always preferred due to his batting prowess, as with the bat he was way ahead of the latter.

But then, it has to be agreed that England stood to lose nothing for not playing their first-choice keeper. In fact, Alec Stewart’s wicket-keeping was more than reliable. The artistry of wicket-keeping is not just about the full-length dives which you make by throwing yourself to claim an unrealistic catch. Rather, it is more about how safe your hands are, to make sure of not dropping the easier ones that are offered. And that’s where the man from Surrey was so good. I can’t recall many instances where he made a mess of an easy opportunity. It is enough if you keep on doing that consistently, and Alec Stewart was able to thrive in that aspect.

In addition to being one of the safest keepers, Stewart was quite intelligent too. He used to give valuable advice to the bowlers, constantly encouraging them at all times. I’d like to give a small example to accentuate my point. It happened during the first ever day-night match at Sharjah, when England took on India in the first match of a four-nation series in 1997. Stewart scored a quick-fire century when his team batted first, thereby recording his name in the history books as the first cricketer ever to do so in a day-night match there. When the Indians were given a formidable target of over 250 runs to chase, their premier batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who came in to bat at No. 4, seemed to be running away with the game. The situation looked hopeless for England when the Little Master faced some innocuous bowling from Matthew Fleming, with little over 20 runs required to reach the target.

It was then that Stewart, seeing the aggressive intent of the batting maestro, signaled the bowler to deliver a ball wide of his stumps. The plan worked as formulated, as Sachin got out stumped when he danced down the wicket to try hitting the delivery over the top, clearly foxed by a wider one. Once he got out, like it had always been in the 90s, Team India choked, losing by a very faint margin. Stewart not only devised a plan, but also had it executed successfully as a keeper.

Sachin Tendulkar batting for India is out for 91 runs, stumped by England wicketkeeper Alec Stewart off the bowling of Matthew Fleming during the Champions Trophy match against England in Sharjah, 11th December 1997. England won the match by 7 runs.

Out of the 133 Test matches he played for England, Stewart wore the keeping gloves 82 times. He effected 241 dismissals in total, which contained 227 catches and 14 stumpings. Even his ODI record was very commendable, where he helped his bowlers with 163 dismissals. These records clearly depict how well he kept wickets for his team. For a cricketer who was more of a batsman than a keeper, this was no ordinary record. Since the exit of this great gentleman, England have been in search of a permanent wicket-keeper who could do a similar role. Of late, Matt Prior seems to be doing a good job, but as a batsman he has a long way to go before even earning a comparison with Stewart.

As a reliable wicket-keeper, Alec Stewart will go down in the history books as one of the best ever to have played the game.

To check the rest of the list of the greatest wicketkeepers of all time, click here.