Alan Knott vs Adam Gilchrist: Who was the best in history?

Stats-wise, there is really no comparison between the Gilchrist and Alan Knott.

 

By Adrian Meredith

 

	Tests	Runs	Avge	Ct	St	Total	Dissmisal/ Per Test
Allan Knott	95	4,389	32.75	250	19	269	2.83
Adam Gilchrist	96	5,570	47.6	379	37	416	4.33
	FC	Runs	Avge	Ct	St	Total	Dissmisal/ Per Test
Allan Knott	511	18105	29.63	1211	133	1344	2.63
Adam Gilchrist	190	10334	44.16	756	55	811	4.27

 

According to Wisden, Alan Knott was voted as England‘s best post-War wicket-keeper. Adam Gilchrist, in comparison, would be in most people’s sides in an all-time best World XI as a ‘keeper-batsman.

 

Stats-wise, there is really no comparison between the two. Adam Gilchrist averaged 1.5 dismissals per match more than Knott, in both Test and first-class cricket. As a batsman, Gilchrist averaged 15 run more per innings than Knott. On both of those scales, Gilchrist comes out on top by miles.

 

Knott was known as England’s first and greatest ‘keeper/batsmen. Ever since he retired, England have alternated between pure ‘keepers and ‘keeper/batsmen, none moreso than when they kept changing from Alec Stewart the batsman/keeper and Jack Russell, the pure ‘keeper. Russell was the superior ‘keeper, but Stewart was the better batsman. Was Russell 15 runs per innings better as a ‘keeper than Stewart? Sometimes, they thought that he was, but other times not. Even today that debate rages, as England keep chopping and changing their ‘keepers. All of this was because of Knott.

 

Knott’s Test batting average of 32 might not seem much, but in those days batting was harder and a batting average of 35 was considered good for a top order batsman. Keepers who averaged 10 or 15 were commonplace, with 20 being somewhat extraordinary. Knott’s Test batting average of 32 was virtually as good as a top order batsman. It was his batting that got him the most headlines. He struck five centuries and 30 half centuries – in only 95 Tests. That was an extraordinary performance for a wicket- keeper in those days. He won many matches, or helped to win them, off his bat. And he could keep too! His ‘keeping was better than Stewart’s, but he may not be the all-time best English ‘keeper. Bob Taylor was rated higher than Knott, purely as a ‘keeper.

 

When Gilchrist played, he couldn’t get into the New South Wales side due to Phil Emery, and moved to Western Australia, where he also had to fight for a spot. He then couldn’t dislodge Ian Healy, then the record holder for most dismissals, and someone who the selectors had said would stay until he retired. Healy was never the best ‘keeper in Australia, but the selectors simply refused to get rid of him for the sake of stability. Because of this, Gilchrist worked out that to get in he needed to work on his batting. He was a ‘keeper first, but while playing for Western Australia, he learned to bat, and bat well. Finally, through sheer weight of numbers, he was given a shot in the ODI team and, much later, a shot at the Test team. By the time that he was finally playing Test cricket, he was as good a batsman as any top order batsman in the world – though he wasn’t nearly as good when he first started first-class cricket.

 

A lot of people say that Gilchrist’s statistics inflate his performances, that he took so many dismissals because he was on a good side. This might be fair when comparing his Test performances to someone on a team that lost all of the time, like say Zimbabwe or Bangladesh, but when Knott played for England, they were a mighty fine side too. Comparing these two players, dominance of their side wasn’t a factor to dismissals per match.

 

Furthermore, if dominance was an issue, why did Gilchrist also do so well on a first-class level? Western Australia were hardly dominant while Gilchrist played for them; they were a middle-of-the-road state. Knott also had a similar record at first-class level, so lack of dominance shouldn’t have been an issue.

 

So why do so many people rate Knott’s keeping so highly?

 

Perhaps it was because of the way that Knott warmed up, his penchant for doing some weird things, like putting steak in his gloves, and all of the other fascinating things that made people think that he was a lot better than he really was.

 

Gilchrist didn’t take too many spectacular catches. He didn’t leap in the air like Jeffrey Dujon, or dive across and fumble and bumble then hold on to a spectacular catch like Ian Healy did. Gilchrist did not find the need to dive and jump needlessly. His instincts saw him in place to take the catch without much histrionics. Such was Gilchrist’s strength that Australia regularly didn’t even have a 1st slip – or a 1 1/2 slip – often just employing a 2nd slip. Gilchrist could take not only all of the catches meant for the keeper but all of the 1st slips catches too. How many other ‘keepers did that? Mark Boucher at times could, but not many others. And Boucher, too, didn’t get much credit, because, like Gilchrist, he had superb anticipation and instincts to be there for the catch.

 

Gilchrist was a very safe ‘keeper and didn’t miss many. If he had to dive for a catch, he was angry with himself for not predicting it easily enough. If he missed it entirely, it was like his world had collapsed. It didn’t matter that nobody else would have got close. You certainly never saw balls fly past the gap between ‘keeper and slip when Gilchrist was playing. He never cared much if he failed with the bat; batting was a bonus for him. People talked about his batting slumps. He would come back from a run of ducks with a big century and claim he was never out of form. But it was when Gilchrist missed a few catches that he announced his retirement. He was still batting well, still ranked in the top 10 in the world as a batsman, but he quit because his ‘keeping had slipped. He was still easily the best ‘keeper in Australia – as he had been throughout his career – but he was no longer the best pure ‘keeper in the world. Not good enough for him, so he quit. He could have still made the Australian team for another five years or more. He wasn’t going to be dumped in favour of Brad Haddin or Tim Paine. If he made himself available now, he’d still make the Test team, ahead of either of them.

 

Yet whilst most people would rate Gilchrist as No 1 of their all-time World XI ‘keepers, every now and then you get the odd one that cries out for Knott.

 

(Adrian Meredith, an Australian from Melbourne, has been very passionate about cricket since he was seven years old. Because of physical challenges he could not pursue playing the game he so dearly loved. He loves all kinds of cricket – from Tests, ODIs, T20 – at all levels and in all countries and writes extensively on the game) 

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