HEADLINE: “WEST INDIES ALL-TIME MEN’S TEST TEAM – A WICKET-KEEPER PLEASE!”

Selecting just one wicket-keeper for MY All West Indies Test XI, with six players already included – Joel Garner, Sir Curty Ambrose, late Malcolm Marshall, Sir Wes Hall, Lancelot Gibbs, Sir Gary Sobers – is probably the hardest, most contentious decision ever, even with great battersalso vying for thoselast four positions.  The batsmen would be relatively easier.

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In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Croft made this statement



And then proceeds to conclude....


HTF does Rohan Kanhai make it to an elite 8 of WI wicketkeepers when a whopping 3% of his test matches played were played as him as a keeper?

Ah mean.....homeboyism and hero worship is one thing. But this????


Makes a mockery of his entire article.

Barbados best ever wkpr was DAVID MURRAY

Trinidad best ever wkpr between DERYCK MURRAY AND DAVID WILLIAMS imo....I dont know of ERROL HUNTE....has to be wayyyy before my time.

Junior Murray superior to Michael Findlay?

Usually all time WI teams pick either Clyde Walcott or Dujon because of their superior batsmanship.

In reply to analyst-kid

Nothing else needed to be said.
Rohan was a great West Indies batsman; he could not be considered a great Guyana Wicketkeeper because of his productivity as a specialist wicketkeeper.

In reply to analyst-kid


williams was as good a keeper as denesh ramdin but ramdin was a much better batsman, which is why i give him the edge, but as a keeper, williams was phenomenal

In reply to openning

murray was probably the best wk of the 80s among all teams. i believe dujon once said that murray would glide into position whereas he'd have to dive.

In reply to Jumpstart

David Murray was unfaired by WI cricket

Maybe because of his locks

Maybe because he allegedly smoked weed

But as a keeper……there haven’t been any better in my time. He wasn’t bad with the bat either.

Then he went on the rebel tour and that was that for him.

The whole premise of having 5 fast-bowlers and a spinner as sure picks (even if one of those fast men is a supreme allrounder) ensures an unbalanced XI no?
Hunte
Greenidge/Rae/Haynes/BABU/Crampy
Headley/Prince/Weekes
Viv,Viv, Viv/Worrel
The Greatest
WALCOTT/Duj
Macko
Big Bud
Ambi
Sir Wes
Lancelot Richard
Das one Rass of a tail bit there's no one who could shepherd a tail bettervthan the Greatest. Duj was good at that too but with so few batsmen Walcott gets the pick

In reply to Jumpstart

I met David as a youth, and we attended the first coaching clinic conducted by Foffie Williams.
In my last game in Barbados, I kept wicket while David bowled.
Dujon played with the best team in the history of West Indies cricket. He kept Wickets to the bowlers that the team had at the time.
I was one of the people who devalue his keeping, but I have learned to appreciate eras and what each player brought o the game.

In reply to Brerzerk


Damn! U leff out Sobers???

Harsh IMO

In reply to Brerzerk

don't need a spinner when you have the fire power the WI had. if a spinner managed to be better than any of the world class pacemen we produced, then fine, but i am certainly not picking a spinner based on that balanced attack rubbish. maco, imran, waqar, wasim and glenn mcgrath proved quick bowlers with the right skills could be successful on the subcontinent and on wickets that don't favor pace bowling

In reply to Jumpstart

There is no way I will select an all-time team and not have Lance Gibbs for the West Indies or Shane Warne for Australia.

In reply to openning

i would....if we are playing in chennai or multan, my attack would be holding, roberts, maco, walsh(from 96-2000). if it was a world xi.....i'd put roberts, maco, mcgrath/imran and wasim. warne's record in india is poor

In reply to imusic

Sobers is "The Greatest" batting at 5!
I am showing that picking 5 pacers including Sobers plus Gibbs for a total of 6 bowlers unbalances the team.
The West Indies did not "unfair Murray".Dujon debuted as a #7 batsman with Murray at 8. By the 2nd or 3rd test Murray and Croft exited the team to join "The Rebels" in SA. Duj took the globlves and the rest is history. Until the 90's no "rebel" was forgiven and only one was able to make thevteam by then. Murray grew Locks years after the rebel tour

i INVESTIGATED a folklore talk that Viv (at the beginning of his career) watched David Murray batting against spin and learnt from watching him. Murray was an excellent player of spin bowling saving a Barbados Shell Shield Team many times.

I used to eat lunch with David at a restaurant in town 6 years ago and I asked him about Viv learning from watching him....he just stared at me and said "What's wrong with you? Thats my brother, thats my family!"

In reply to openning

When it comes to Guyana, I rank Milton Pydanna highly, a better wkpr than Babilul.

Reds Perreira always said the best WI wkpr he ever seen was Jackie Hendricks.

In reply to Brerzerk

I serve up:

1. Hunte
2. Greenidge
3. Headley
4. Richards
5. Lara
6. Sobers
7. Dujon
8. Marshall
9. Holding
10 . Ambrose
11. Gibbs

In reply to JoeGrine

From a man who knows cricket no less.
Good team sah. Man n man can quibble and tinker wid some minor changes if dem want.lf it is vs Oz down under Babu is my opener with Freddo and Crampy also ahead of Greenidg. Ah bias towards Walcott even with the speedster getting edges and the big man having to.dive

That is a good average not excellent. Well, maybe in the era in which he played ....

In reply to Kay

That's an excellent average in that time..........and even up to the late 90s. its only after pace bowling (and spin bowling later after the retirements of warne and murali)declined after 2002 that you had phonies like hayden, guys who could not make a note against the ambrose's, bishop's walsh's and donald's of the 90s, starting to beat crap attacks and averaging over 50. kanhai barely played against weak opposition. it had no bangldesh, and no teams in perpetual decline like the wi. pakistan was weak, india was improving in the 60s and peaked in the early 70s with a series win in england

In reply to Jumpstart

This is 2025, and you are selecting an All-Star team, meaning the best.
George Headley will be my opener with Gordan and Everon Weekes at #5.

In reply to Brerzerk



At Perth, Fredericks is the very first name on my sheet, even Sobers have to take a back seat . That 169 against Thommo, Lillee, Gilmour, Walker etc. is still talked about by my Australian friends as one of the finest knock they have ever seen.

In reply to imusic/analyst-kid




Folklore talk was Vivian and David Murray-Weekes allegedly were pals