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[Canners]

was at a dinner with paul nixon recently and he described foster as the best gloveman in the world by some distance.
yet geraint jones was selected ahead of him!

my point exactly

i have heard stories of fozzie upsetting the selectors when he went a bit mad on one of the tours out in oz

[dhackett89]

shame really!

something fascinating about seeing a keeper good enough/ brave enough to stand up to someone bowling 80+

[Aswani Cricket]

When you get to the highest level and you have the whole country to choose from, then agreed you may pick the batsman wk, but at club level your choice is much less, the bowling is not as good, so personally I'd go for the best wk ... but it does depend who you have to choose from

[thecord]

Not sure at our club as I was in the 1st team before I started keeping and have stayed in the top 6 since becoming the keeper. Am pretty sure I'm the best glove man at the club but you would have to ask the rest of the players really
The guy who was universally regarded as our best ever keeper though did bat 11 and he was nailed on 1st team. First ball he kept for the club he stood up to our fastest bowler having never seen him bowl before. Everyone tried to persuade him to stand back but he refused. Young fast bowler was unsurprisingly unimpressed by this and decided to bowl the quickest bouncer he could to put him in his place. As the opener ducked a wild leg side head high wide he was rather confused when an appeal went up....he had been stumped off a leg side wide bouncer. If you are that good you don't need to bat 

[bigbenh99]

Curiously I've also played with a guy who saw himself as a keeper, and would only play if he kept wicket. He preferred to play 2nd team cricket and keep as opposed to playing 1st team cricket as a batsman, even though he though he should definitely have been in the 1st team as a batter, he just wasn't the best keeper at the club

Personally I'd say that's pretty selfish, I'm a keeper myself and bat in top 3, but I'd never turn down 1s if they asked me to play as a batsman (or conversely as a keeper and bat low down), I'd say that you have to make sacrifices for your club and if you're good enough your time will come!

[Canners]

Not sure at our club as I was in the 1st team before I started keeping and have stayed in the top 6 since becoming the keeper. Am pretty sure I'm the best glove man at the club but you would have to ask the rest of the players really
The guy who was universally regarded as our best ever keeper though did bat 11 and he was nailed on 1st team. First ball he kept for the club he stood up to our fastest bowler having never seen him bowl before. Everyone tried to persuade him to stand back but he refused. Young fast bowler was unsurprisingly unimpressed by this and decided to bowl the quickest bouncer he could to put him in his place. As the opener ducked a wild leg side head high wide he was rather confused when an appeal went up....he had been stumped off a leg side wide bouncer. If you are that good you don't need to bat 

great story- would have loved to have seen that

[Simmy]

he had been stumped off a leg side wide bouncer. If you are that good you don't need to bat 

i do need to bat lad! lol

[roco]

I don't agree with tfc's but if you have 2-3 sides if not more your first xi is there to win as the standard of your club is judged on your 1st xi so it's not about giving everyone a game it's about winning the game but everyone in the team should be able to bat bowl or keep no specialist fielders

Then lower teams about giving everyone a game

At club level a good keeper can win you more matches than the ok keeper who can bat

[Cumbrian Pete]

I agree with Roco, at club level a keeper who can stand up and put pressure on batsmen into making mistakes, can take the majority of catching chances that come his way and make a couple of stumpings can save a team 50+ runs every week.  The top order batters should be able to get enough runs without the keeper having to be a crash hot batsman as well.  I love batting, but would rather keep in the 1s and bat 7,8 or 9 than bat in the top 4 and keep in the 2s, it is about putting the club first.

[97notout]

Nice to see different comments and views and after all it is as you say club cricket but I think in whatever area you play you want to do well.
I will bat anywhere in the order and once did open batting, keep wicket and captain, but that was for Walsall Police, we only ever turned out seven, with three TFC's and we batted down to number two, but it was still so much fun..................lol.