Australia and South Africa were probably the luckiest of them all, as they had Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher, two of the greatest wicket-keepers of all time, respectively. It is very difficult to compare their stats because both players have massive good records to their name.
Both these players served their countries for a long period of time and the longevity and consistency they showed is truly inspiring. Now we compare them and we find who is best.
First we look at their all international matches record together which involve one day matches, test matches and T20. So over all Boucher has play 467 international matches and he catches the ball for 953 times in his career and stump the batsman for 46 times and his total dismissal 999 which is a great number and Gilchrist play 396 international games in his career and take the caught of batsman for 813 times and stump them 92 times and his total dismissal is 905 so we can see for over all result Boucher has slight edge.
Now we look at their test stats comparison In terms of dismissals for wicket-keepers in Tests, Boucher is way out in front with 555 dismissals, 139 of the second-placed Gilchrist.
While no other wicket-keeper has even managed 400 catches, Boucher pouched 532. His dismissals-per-innings is impressive too, thanks to the array of fast bowlers that has always been at South Africa's disposal.
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Here is the list of their comparisons in test cricket
If we look at their keeping record in one day cricket they both are likely to have equal records. But as mentioned earlier, the Australian legend has more catches and stumpings because of the world class bowlers the Australian team had during his days. And he did take some stunners behind the wicket as well. Both these factors together put Gilchrist ahead of Boucher in the shorter format of the game.
Also, as in Tests, Gilchrist has a better dismissal rate than Boucher.
Check here Best innings of Adam Gilchrist
Now we look upon their batting stats
As we can see Adam has played 96 tests in his career and scored 5570 runs with a very good batting average of 47.60 and score 17 centuries and score 26 fifty’s where Boucher has played more tests than Adam but he scores less runs then him with lower average of 30.30.
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In One Day Internationals:
There is no need to talk about his legacy in ODIs. The attacking opener blasted oppositions into submission on a number of occasions.
Australia were lucky to have a player like him at the top. He struck it at a rate of 96.94 in a period where anything above 70 for an opener was praiseworthy.
Gilchrist also has 16 tons to go with 55 half-centuries. He could have easily surpassed the 10,000 runs mark in ODIs had he played a few more games. But then, he didn’t play for numbers.
On the other hand, Boucher was a classical batsman with a less aggressive approach. As a one-day player, Boucher wasn’t a key member of the South African side in the last couple of his career but during all the previous years he made vital contributions.
This gives the best picture of what both Boucher and Gilchrist achieved in their inspiring careers. It would take some effort to better these numbers in Test Cricket.
So, in all it is fair to say that both greats were different in their abilities.
Boucher was more of a keeper-batsman, and Gilchrist a batsman-keeper. But their significance to their respective countries was the same and so was their impact on the game that we love so much.
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