Top 5 players with highest averages as wicketkeeper-batter in Tests

Lorcan Tucker of Ireland achieved a unique record in his team’s ongoing Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo as he entered the top five players list to have the highest averages as wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket.

Ireland had batted first in the only Test in Bulawayo after winning the toss. They made 260 in the first innings despite being 82/6 at one stage. Andy McBrine (90) and Mark Adair (78) top-scored for Ireland with Tucker scoring 33 runs.

Zimbabwe replied with 267 runs thanks to 90 by Nick Welch, and then Ireland replied with 298 runs in the second innings. Andy Balbirnie made 66 and Lorcan Tucker made 58 runs as the visitors set Zimbabwe 292 runs to win the match.

Thanks to his knocks of 33 and 58 runs, Lorcan Tucker’s Test average was pushed to 45.83 in his 7th Test, bringing him up to the top 5 keeper-batters in Tests with the highest average.

Today we take a look at the top five wicket-keeper batters with the highest averages in Test.

Top 5 players with the highest averages as keeper-batters in Tests:

While Lorcan Tucker occupies the No. 5 spot, the fourth place belongs to legendary Australian keeper-batter Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist played Test cricket from 1999 to 2008 and scored 5570 runs in 96 Tests and averaged an eye-watering 47.60. This was despite his tendency to play high-risk cricket in Test matches with lots of aerial shots.

The number 3 spot belongs to Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis, who has begun keeping wickets for his team only recently. He has scored 591 runs to his name with an average of 49.25. Before Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal kept wickets for Lankans but has stopped to prolong his Test career, with Mendis taking over the reins. 

The second place is held by another legendary wicketkeeper-batter, Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. Out of his 4794 Test runs in 63 Tests, Flower scored 4404 runs as a specialist keeper-batter for Zimbabwe. His average was 53.70, and his golden run in 2000-02 saw him scoring runs in all conditions, especially in India, where he scored 550 runs in 2 Tests.

The no. 1 position in the list of highest averages with the bat for a wicketkeeper-batter belongs to South Africa’s amazingly talented AB de Villiers. He made 2067 runs with the bat while donning the keeping gloves for Proteas in Tests. He averaged 57.41 with the bat in those matches, proving that De Villiers could do nothing wrong in the game of cricket.

Here is the list of Top 5 players with highest averages as keeper-batter in Tests:

 
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