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With the top six all pretty much settled (we still have some all-rounder votes trickling in) it’s now time to turn our attention to who keeps wicket in The Roar’s greatest Ashes XI of all time.
Wicketkeeper was by far and away the most clear-cut of all the positions in our initial poll a couple of weeks ago, so we reckon this step will be little more than a formality.
Adam Gilchrist was picked in 90 per cent of all teams, so comes into this race as the first seed. The next best was Ian Healy, with three per cent, scraping past Englishman Alan Knott by a mere two votes.
Healy’s record in Ashes is still excellent. In 33 Tests against England, he made 135 dismissals and scored 1269 runs at an average of 30.95 – an improvement on his overall mark of 27.4. Two of his four career tons came in Ashes matches, too.
His batting prowess is nowhere near that of the man who replaced him behind the stumps for Australia. Adam Gilchrist averaged 45.12 against England, scoring 1083 runs in his 20 matches. He was also a ball away from hitting the fastest century in Test history against the Old Enemy when he went ballistic against Andrew Flintoff’s side in Perth.
Gilchrist, while not the gloveman Healy was, was still an excellent keeper too, snaring 96 dismissals in Ashes matches at an average of just under five per Test.
Only one can make the final XI, so who’s it going to be: Adam Gilchrist or Ian Healy?
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