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In Australia, the best in the world is always the current Australian wicketkeeper - or that is what Ian Healy will be droning on about in the Channel Nine commentary box anyway. Healy was arguably the best wicketkeeper of all-time so his views are highly relevant, but his sycophantic commentary and cycloptic view of Brad Haddin during the recent Test series Down Under against New Zealand was vomit-inducing.

Strangely, outside the TV commentary box he was much less of a cheerleader and made far more thought-provoking comments such as this one to The Australian: "[Haddin's wicketkeeping] hasn't improved since he got into the Australian team. I would actually say it has declined...We are all about trying to get his standards back to where they were when he was playing with New South Wales."

So, enough about Australians already. Who is actually the best as of right now, today? It's easy to have an argument about it, as nobody reputable appears to be counting and analysing the catches, byes, shelled chances, and stumpings that comprise a Test match day in the sun for a wicketkeeper. I'm sure as hell not going to break out my abacus, but in the absence of anything else more concrete, the current ICC Test rankings of each of the incumbent wicketkeepers seems a reasonable starting point, despite only rating batting performance:

Kamran Akmal, Pakistan #35
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India #36
Brendon McCullum, New Zealand #39
Mark Boucher, South Africa #43
Brad Haddin, Australia #50
Denesh Ramdin, West Indies #68
Prasanna Jayawardene, Sri Lanka #72
Tim Ambrose, England #77
Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh #79

It is surprising to find Akmal as top dog amongst the wicketkeepers on this “batting only” assessment. His name is not one heard bandied about in our pub arguments about the best keeper on the planet. Perhaps that is a function of visibility, given that Pakistan has not played a Test match for close to a year. He has five Test tons to his name, and aside from world record-holder Boucher, more dismissals than any of the others on the list. Perhaps I am being unfair.

I’d reluctantly have Boucher at number one. It pains me to overcome my personal demons and select him there, having witnessed his humourless reprimanding of the Eden Park ground announcer one day in 2004: “Don’t take the piss out of my players,” he demanded. The announcer had passed some light-hearted comments about the South Africans’ excruciating batting and red hair as they came and went (with some regularity during that match) from the middle. He had a pretty good Test with the gloves that week – 595 runs conceded and nary a bye to be seen. Note too that “c Boucher b Ntini” is the most successful keeper/bowler wicket-taking combination in Test cricket at present (80 scalps).

Taking silver for mine would be Dhoni – let’s assume the 28 byes he conceded at Delhi in October was an aberration and that he will end his career with a hell of a lot more than one Test century to his name. Indeed, his flamboyant captaincy and destructive batsmanship will be tasted first-hand from the grassy embankments around New Zealand in 2009. Presumably he will hate the conditions as much as the rest of the Indian batsmen did last time they were blindsided by our conveniently seaming wickets.

McCullum is in line for the bronze medal - and upper cuts for anyone who dares suggest that he is “the next Adam Gilchrist”. There won’t be another Gilchrist. At Test level, the Kiwi vice-captain still has a lot to prove, as his batting statistics against “proper” Test teams do not yet do justice to his undoubted talents.

The also-rans in order: Akmal the all but invisible achiever; Jayawardene, who must have the toughest gig of anyone looking after Murali and Mendis; Ramdin who is yet to score a Test ton; the two Australians Haddin and Ambrose, who have dined out on the NZ bowling attack to orchestrate Test wins for Australia and England respectively; and the Bangladeshi Tiger, Rahim.

Nice article. I think it has to be Boucher at the moment. From what I understand, Kamran Akmal is a bit inconsistent with the gloves. Boucher is solid as a rock, and a real fighter as well. Haddin, one suspects, will get better - those 2 catches in the first innings of the second test and the class century he scored will do him the world of good. McCullum too is a classic counter-puncher at 7 - batting him at 5 was way too high, and counter-productive. There is a special skill to batting at 6 and 7 that is not readily understood - the ability to counterpunch and bat with he tail not least among them. Healy was a master, as obviously was Gilchrist. Boucher and McCullum are also up there. Really good number 7's need to be able to scrag - kicking and fighting all the way. Funny, most keepers seem to fit that bill admirably . . . . .

Good article - but didn't you ask who is the best wicket keeper? OK depends on definition. Does that mean only wicket keeping skills or all round contribution. If the latter then Boucher, McCullum and Dhoni et al are all in the mix. If purely glovework then Chris Read is the man. The problem with talking about purely glovework is that it is very subjecive. For instance Read has not kept regularly to a top class spinner in the Warne or Murali class so again it is subjective. There is a problem though with stats, like byes conceeded or even catches taken per game....if theat measure is used Geriant Jones will show as one of the all time greats.....we know that this isn't the case.

Of all the comments above there is one current keeper who is noticably absent: Kumar Sangakarra. In my view his keeping in the 2007 world cup was as good as it gets, superb up to the stumps to both seamers and spinners, and a few blinders stood back all the while doing the basics + scoring runs.

In terms of wicketkeeping itself, you would have to put Boucher first, then I believe Prasanna Jayawardene, he is an outstanding wicketkeeper. But for batting purposes and allround ability, excluding Sangakarra, it would have to be Boucher, Dhoni, McCullum...a long way ahead of the rest. Boucher has been there for a LONG time, his keeping is top notch, his batting in ODI's has consistently improved whilst his Test batting is still relatively consistent. Dhoni is probably not the BEST keeper, but does a good job, and his captaincy and batting is invaluable to his team - again, his batting in ODI's outshines his Tests at the moment. And McCullum of course is in the same boat, very similar but not as consistent as Dhoni. I think that whilst Boucher isn't getting any younger and will finish his career with a Test batting average of 30, and ODI average of around 28, Dhoni and McCullum both have the time and potential to translate their explosive ODI innings into Gilchristian Test vigils.