Yeah, keeper/batsmen is a more realistic category nowadays - after all, how many "pure" keepers are there out there in the Shires anymore? Foster is probably still the best (though in fairness he's a decent enough number six or seven in county cricket) and Read a close second (though again a more than competant batsman). In terms of guys who are less talented with teh willow, the example of Bates at Hampshire is indicative of the overall trend - the kid is an exceptional keeper but his batting is more of the number 8/9 ilk and lo, he was sidelined when Adam Wheater - a lesser keeper but much more competant batsman - was brought in from Essex. You see it with Bairstow, Buttler and Davies - and did with Prior - players who were batsmen first and for whom keeping was something they learnt on the job - and will see it again with the likes of Ben Foakes, Ben Brown etc.
Indeed, this appears to be mirrored in club cricket - a generation of guys approaching 50 are leaving the game who were specialist wicketkeepers, often the kind who batted in the tail, and are being replaced by batsmen who happen to wear gloves in the field.
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Topic: Buttler to leave Somerset... (Read 4543 times)