Quote:At the hospital, Contractor's condition worsened. He was throwing up, and was losing movement on the left of his body. That evening Ahmed gave permission for an emergency operation to be carried out. The local surgeon was not a specialist (the neurosurgeon did not arrive from Trinidad until the next morning) but he did enough to relieve the pressure on Contractor's brain. In stabilising him, it bought enough time to enable the neurosurgeon to carry out a second operation when he finally appeared.
In the course of the surgeries Contractor lost a lot of blood and several players - including Worrell, Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni and Polly Umrigar - donated theirs to help him.
"Worrell's gesture, coming from the opposition, showed the game transcended boundaries," Borde said. He also recalled that "the lights went off as the [first] operation was going on. We thought that was a bad omen. It took three to four hours. That was miserable."
Speaking of Charlie Griffith, his season in the Lancashire League playing for Burnley in 1964 might well be the greatest in cricket history as he finished with 144 wickets at an average of 5.20 and a strike-rate of 18!
[quote author=Calypso link=topic=102196.msg674353#msg674353 date=1453165863] Tougher still if the Keeper is also Cappo !!!
[/quote]
I went digging through the archives to see how many (if any) cricketers have held the honour of the rare trifecta of captaining the side, keeping wicket and opening the batting all in the same Test. The answer was 3: Percy Sherwell of South Africa was bestowed this burden in seven Test matches in the early 1900s, Pakistan's Imtiaz Ahmed did so on three separate occasions, while the magnificent Gerry Alexander captained, kept wicket and opened the batting twice for the West Indies.
[quote author=dillinger10 link=topic=102196.msg674307#msg674307 date=1453141519]
One other wicketkeeper that also deserves special mention is Farokh Engineer.
[/quote]
Anybody a fan of Jack Russell? He was an almost legendary wicketkeeping figure for England cricket, then again that might just have been for his ridiculous name alone!
Wicket Keeping
Catches: 379
Stumpings: 37
Most Catches (Innings): 5
Most Catches (Match): 10
Most Dismissals (Innings): 5
Most Dismissals (Match): 10
http://www.howstat.com/cricket/statistic...yerID=2192
[/quote]
Gilchrist completely smashed the mould of the role the wicketkeeper and redesigned it forever. The depth that he added to those Australian sides are a large part of what made them so great. Having someone as dangerous and free scoring as Gilchrist batting as low as number 7 completely changed the dynamic of the team, it was as though Australia were playing with a 12th man.
Prior to Gilchrist's debut, Les Ames lead the way with 8 Test centuries by a wicketkeeper, Gilchrist now stands alone with 17. He was otherworldly.
[quote author=Calypso link=topic=102196.msg674395#msg674395 date=1453207943] Yes great topic and excellent stuff Dilly .... thank you for that info ........
Not meaning to impose on your time in any way re research except for your own interest, mine and others I'm sure ... 8)
Modern day keepers/batsmen/cappos ... how did they fare as non openers? Kumar Sangakarra, ABdV ?
[/quote]
Playing as a wicketkeeper only, Sangakkara averaged 40.48 with 7 hundreds and 11 fifties in 48 matches. As a batsman only, his numbers jumped up to near unprecedented levels, averaging 66.78 with 31 hundreds and 41 fifties in 86 matches.
As for ABdV, as a wicketkeeper only, he averaged 57.41 with 7 hundreds and 7 fifties in 24 matches. When playing as a batsman only, he averaged 49.23 with 14 hundreds and 32 fities.
One name that has not yet been mentioned, but deserves to receive some recognition is Andy Flower - his 12 centuries as a wicketkeeper are still second most all time, and is one of only two keepers to have scored a minimum of 1500 runs at an average greater than 50 (ABdV is the other).