Highveld wrote:
Final t20 averages
https://countycrickethub.net/team-averages.html?teamid=16&comp=3&year=2026
Makes for interesting reading and shows some of the selection errors?
Why was Tarriq missing yesterday? In baseball it's quite common for the pitchers to have elbow injuries from all the throwing.
What could you possibly be suggesting?
Not suggesting anything, just making an observation about the high occurance of elbow injuries in sportsmen who through a ball of a similar size.
Also, related to another thread, we want your remanicences of watching Tiger smith make his Warwickshire debut :-)
That's being naughty to suggest that Mr Shedd would have seen Tiger Smith keeping in a serious game. I do, though, wonder if he saw Dick Spooner? I never did (A.C. was my first Warwickshire keeper) and I'm wondering how good he was.
Your reference to the top 10 Warwickshire keepers has prompted my query. Apart from Ambrose, Burgess, Piper and Murray I can't think of many more undoubtedly good ones. I can think of a few dodgy ones, though.
I'll give a serious answer to what I assume was a flippant question.
No, I didn't see Tiger Smith keeping but, when I was a schoolboy and he was already pretty old, he did give me some coaching tips which, to my shame, I think I largely ignored.
One surprising fact about Tiger is that he starred as a wicket keeper even though he had lost the tips of two fingers in a works accident (at Cadbury's, I think).
As for Dick Spooner, in my first ever match, I saw "K. Miller stumped Spooner b Hollies 0". I think it was probably a routine stumping but all I saw was the bails come off and I thought that the great Keith Miller had been bowled. So when it came up on the scoreboard as stumped, I marvelled at the quickness of the hands that had deceived my eyes.
There were plenty of excellent wicket keepers around in the fifties so the fact that he was regarded as the natural deputy to Godfrey Evans means he must have been good. And the person who deputised for him for Warwickshire, Esmond Lewis, was also recognised as really good and played several times in the Gents v Players matches.
As for others not mentioned, Geoff Humpage was an excellent wicket keeper/batter; and going back very many years even before my time, Arthur Augustus (Dick) Lilley starred for both Warwickshire and England.
I still think that Keith Piper was the best that I have seen.
I was been tounge in cheek and it was meant to be good natured.
Thanks for the reply
Highveld wrote:
I was been tounge in cheek and it was meant to be good natured.
Thanks for the reply
Taken in the spirit that it was given!
I think Piper is the best I have ever seen but Piran Holloway who left for Somerset, was good as well but was always fighting for a place with Pip. From what I remember, Holloway was called out of an exam for a game where no 'keeper was able to fill the gap due to a few injuries. I remember his first 100 v Worcestershire at Edgbaston, putting on good runs after we were in danger of being out for nothing, 166-7 became 313-8d and we eventually won. Like Pip, he had good hands and looked relaxed.
Piran Holloway now involved in house building in Western Australia.
In reading the various comments about Kai Smith's keeping, the thought that occurs to me is that, when it comes to having good hands, that's something that keepers have (if at all) very young. I'm sure that there's lots of technical skills you can learn. But by the time you're 18 or so, I think you either have those good hands or you don't - and it seems that Kai, now 21, probably doesn't.
I could be wrong (and hope that I am).
GerryShedd wrote:
Piran Holloway now involved in house building in Western Australia.
In reading the various comments about Kai Smith's keeping, the thought that occurs to me is that, when it comes to having good hands, that's something that keepers have (if at all) very young. I'm sure that there's lots of technical skills you can learn. But by the time you're 18 or so, I think you either have those good hands or you don't - and it seems that Kai, now 21, probably doesn't.
I could be wrong (and hope that I am).
i feel like you're right, at least for the most part, but at the same time i have a nagging memory of a couple of wicketkeeper-batsmen who tangibly improved their keeping well into their 20s. Matt Prior definitely being one (his keeping was supposedly a weakness when he first came into the England team and he was pretty neat by the time he retired) and, as I recall it at least, Michael Burgess wasn't initially known as the excellent gloveman he became known as during his tenure in our side.
Over the years there have been some good keepers, AC Smith was good enough to have played a full Ashes series in Australia, Geoff Humpage made an impact on the side, even with the ball in Sunday league games, Tony Frost and Geoff Tedstone both did a good job during their time with the club. There were also a number of keepers that were only with us a short time, for various reasons, Alex Mellor, Chris Maynard and Richard Johston.
Also don't forget the occasional keeping efforts of John Jamieson and Trevor Penney.
Wasn't Holloway the stepson of Bob Cottam?
Humpage was the Warwickshire keeper when I first started following cricket, i was probably a little too young to fully appreciate his abilities and he was coming towards the end.
Piper is the best ive ever seen. Then Burgess, his improvement from when he first came in 2019 to when he finished was incredible.
Andy wrote:
Humpage was the Warwickshire keeper when I first started following cricket, i was probably a little too young to fully appreciate his abilities and he was coming towards the end.
Piper is the best ive ever seen. Then Burgess, his improvement from when he first came in 2019 to when he finished was incredible.
Don't forget Tim Ambrose, joined us as a wicketkeeper and blossomed.
As if on cue, Kai Smith says he has improved a lot and wants to be the best keeper in the country:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cgrkekq8gy4o
GerryShedd wrote:
As if on cue, Kai Smith says he has improved a lot and wants to be the best keeper in the country:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cgrkekq8gy4o
Reading that interview I have to say I'm impressed with his work ethic. He deserves to succeed.