Watling, 34, is set to play Australia in a three-Test series starting in Perth on Thursday.
Former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is considered to be one of the best players to play cricket. Being the skilled player that he is, it’s no surprise then that he is a pillar of the Australian team that dominated the cricket scene of 2000. He is also the second-most successful wicketkeeper in the history of the sport with 905 dismissals across all formats, following South Africa’s Mark Boucher who has 998.
When he was asked his take on who the current best wicket-keeper at the moment is, he surprisingly overlooked some big-name players such as Wriddhiman Saha, Quinton de Kock and Jos Buttler. He then chose Bradley-John Watling from New Zealand, who recently hit a career-best double century in a Test match against England. He chose Watling simply because of his consistency.
‘BJ Watling, best keeper-batsman in the world at the moment. Particularly in Tests. He just looks so hungry. He’s the most successful statistically for New Zealand, ever and they have had a line of some terrific wicketkeepers’, said Gilchrist. ‘He’s fresh off a double ton. I think he’s scored 8 or 9 Test hundreds and averages 40. So, show me another certainly statistically better keeper-batsman in the world that’s done it for a consistent amount of time. I am not sure there is’.
Watling will play in Australia in a three-match Test series. He made his international debut back in 2009 and throughout his career, he has played in 65 Tests, 28 ODIs, and five T20Is. He has scored around 4,000 runs and claimed 238 wickets.
Australia will face New Zealand in three Test matches beginning December 12. To find out more about Australia’s upcoming matches, visit Betwala’s page.
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