Top 5 ICC CWC wicket-keepers
Today marks 482 days until the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 gets underway in England and Wales; the same number as Kumar Sangakkara’s record amount of ODI dismissals by a wicket-keeper.
To celebrate the record, we decided to look at the top five wicket-keepers – in terms of dismissals – at the World Cup.
1. Kumar Sangakkara (54)
It’s fitting that Kumar Sangakkara tops the list of most dismissals by a wicket-keeper at the World Cup.
Sangakkara had a hand in 54 wickets across 36 innings behind the stumps at the World Cup, at an average of 1.5 dismissals per innings.
He started his World Cup career with three catches and a stumping against New Zealand on debut in 2003 – which turned out to be his most prolific tournament with the gloves, ending up with 17 dismissals in total.
15 dismissals followed in 2007, 14 in 2011, before he ended his World Cup career with eight in 2015.
Sangakkara’s best return for dismissals in an innings is four, a feat he achieved on three occasions; twice in 2003 and once in 2011. He also holds the record for the most stumpings at the World Cup, comfortably topping the charts with 13.
2. Adam Gilchrist (52)
It wouldn’t be a list of all-time great wicket-keepers without Adam Gilchrist.
The former Australia gloveman is second to Sangakkara in ODI and Cricket World Cup dismissals, and while Gilchrist doesn’t hold the record for most dismissals at the tournament, he does hold various others.
His 21 dismissals from just 10 innings in Australia’s World Cup-winning campaign in 2003 is a record for one edition of the tournament. He also shares the record for most dismissals in an innings (with Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed) thanks to six catches against Namibia in 2003.
Gilchrist averaged an impressive 1.677 dismissals per innings at the World Cup, the highest rate of any of the top five keepers.
3= MS Dhoni (32)
Coming in at joint-third is a man who may well get the opportunity to add to his tally in 2019 – India wicket-keeper MS Dhoni.
Dhoni has played in three editions of the World Cup (2007, 2011, 2015), claiming 32 dismissals in 20 games at a rate of 1.6 per innings.
MS Dhoni's one-handed diving catch at CWC15
MS Dhoni flings himself to his left to take a one-handed catch off Soumya Sarkar in the second Quarter-Final of CWC15 in Melbourne on March 19.
His most recent tournament was his most fruitful to date; he claimed 15 dismissals (all catches) as India reached the semi-finals in 2015.
It was in 2015 that Dhoni claimed his record number of dismissals in an innings with four catches against Bangladesh in Melbourne.
3= Brendon McCullum (32)
Sharing third spot with MS Dhoni is former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who also claimed 32 dismissals behind the stumps at the World Cup.
While Dhoni has kept wicket in every single one of his World Cup appearances, McCullum was behind the stumps 25 times in 34 games.
He claimed his dismissals at a slightly slower rate than Dhoni (1.280 per innings) across four editions of the World Cup (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015).
The 2007 tournament in the West Indies was his most fruitful behind the stumps, with McCullum claiming 14 victims in 10 innings. ****
5. Mark Boucher (31)
No man has taken more Test dismissals than Mark Boucher (555), the man who completes the top five wicket-keepers at the ICC Cricket World Cup.
The former South Africa gloveman ended his World Cup career with 31 scalps from 25 innings at an average of 1.240 dismissals per innings.
Boucher’s World Cup debut in 1999 saw him finish with 11 dismissals – his joint-best return alongside 2003 edition.
His best effort in an innings at the Cricket World Cup also came in his debut tournament, when he took four catches against Australia in the famous tied semi-final at Edgbaston.
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