Adam who? The new class of keepers steps up

With Adam Gilchrist now in retirement, the title of world’s best wicketkeeper-batsman is up for grabs. MS Dhoni of India, Mark Boucher of South Africa and Kumar Sangakarra of Sri Lanka are all worthy contenders to the crown, but for me the answer is: Brendon McCullum.

One of Gilchrist’s biggest strengths was his ability to launch a One Day innings with an assault of boundary hitting in the first few overs, setting his team up with a good starting run rate. Sometimes he would even stick around until the end of the innings, making huge scores.

McCullum has done much the same for New Zealand in recent years, his 80 not out from just 28 balls against Bangladesh late last year an obvious example. Even in the recent tour  by England he showed his skill at the top of the order, scoring 77 from 43 in Christchurch, 80 from 47 in Hamilton and finished the series with an average of 65.25 and a strike rate of 128.57.

Of course McCullum has not fared as well in the test arena, finding it difficult to curb his natural attacking instincts and hold down an end, preferring to play his strokes which sometimes gets him into trouble. But this is a problem with his head, not his skills and will in time be sorted out by the Black Caps’ coaching staff.

Behind the stumps he is as steady as they come, rarely making an error and taking some very difficult chances. McCullum always talks a lot, encouraging his team mates and showing his natural leadership skills.

Others have clearly seen the talent McCullum has to offer, earning him a contract with former Australian coach John Buchanan’s Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League worth US$700,000. That makes him the second highest paid wicketkeeper in that league, behind Dhoni who is also captain of his team.

In that competition Sangakara is worth the same as McCullum, while Boucher is worth just over half at US$450,000.

His competition for the title of best wicketkeeper is something of a mixed bag, South African Boucher struggled during his tour of Bangladesh, not scoring more than 25 while Sri Lankan Sangakara recently scored 192 in Australia. However the difference between McCullum and the others is that, like Gilchrist, McCullum has the ability to change the course of a match single handedly with just a few mighty blows.

It has certainly been a long time since New Zealand were able to claim one of their cricketers as the best in the world, perhaps back as far as Sir Richard Hadlee, but the case can be made that McCullum is the heir apparent to Gilchrist’s throne, at least in the shorter versions of the game.

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