Description

There is no rule stating a team must play awicket-keeper. On 5 June 2015 during a T20 Blast game between theWorcestershire Rapids and the Northamptonshire Steelbacks,Worcestershire chose not to play a wicket-keeper in the 16th overof the match. Their keeper, Ben Cox, became an extra fielder at flyslip while spinner Moeen Ali bowled. The umpires consulted witheach other and agreed that there was nothing in the rules toprevent it from happening.

A keeper's position depends on the bowler: for fast bowling hewill crouch some distance from the stumps, in order to have time toreact to edges from the batsman, while for slower bowling, he willcome much nearer to the stumps (known as "standing up"), topressure the batsman into remaining within the crease or risk beingstumped. The more skilled the keeper, the faster the bowling towhich he is able to "stand up", for instance Godfrey Evans oftenstood up to Alec Bedser.

Wicket-keeping is a specialist discipline and it requirestraining consistent with the level expected of a specialist batsmanor bowler. However, the modern-day keeper is also expected topossess reasonable batting skill, suiting him for the middle orderat least. Wicket-keepers who are also capable of batting at the topof the order are known informally as keeper/batsmen.

Since there is only room for one keeper in a cricket side,selectors (especially at the international level) are often facedwith a difficult choice between two or more skilled keepers. Often,one of the two keepers is an exceptional keeper, but only anaverage batsman, whereas the other is a keeper/batsman who isclearly better at batting, but not quite as good a keeper as hisrival. One such selection dilemma was that faced by Englandselectors in the 1990s between Jack Russell (the pure keeper) andAlec Stewart (the keeper/batsman). They were never able toconsistently choose between the two until 1998, when Russell beganto fade: prior to that, they had regularly swapped the role, oftenwith Stewart maintaining his place when not wicket-keeping thanksto his batting skill.

The keeper may also have a captaincy role. Uniquely, they areusually involved in every delivery of an innings, and may be in aposition to see things that the captain misses. They can frequentlybe heard encouraging the bowler, and may also indulge in thepractice (not meant to be overheard) of "sledging" the batsman withwell timed comments about their skill, appearance or personalhabits.

The keeper is the only fielder allowed to touch the ball withprotective equipment, typically large padded gloves with webbingbetween the index finger and thumb, but no other webbing. Theprotection offered by the gloves is not always adequate. TheEngland keeper Alan Knott sometimes placed steaks inside his glovesfor added cushioning. Wicket-keepers also tend to wear leg pads anda box to protect the groin area.

Wicket-keepers are allowed to take off their pads and bowl,though this rarely happens but is not uncommon when matches aredrifting to draws or a bowling team is desperate for a wicket. Twokeepers have removed their pads and taken hat-tricks in first-classcricket: Probir Sen for Bengal v Orissa at Cuttack in 1954–55 andA.C. (Alan) Smith for Warwickshire v Essex at Clacton in 1965;Smith was a most unusual player in that he was primarily awicket-keeper, but was sometimes selected as a frontlinebowler.