The best catchers in Tests

Here we look at the Test players with the highest dismissal rates, subject to a minimum of 20 innings fielded. These are correct as of Aug 31, 2020 and do not include the ICC XI Test of 2005.

Naturally, this will be headed by wicket-keepers who invariably get more catches than other fielders. But you would not have guessed that the highest average is by Rishabh Pant, who is generally not considered to be India’s best keeper at the moment.

The #2 is also not what you would expect. While Tim Paine did a good job as stopgap captain of Australia, you would not expect him to be so high up.

At #3 there is another current player in Quintun de Kock, who is likely to be SA’s next Test captain.

Going further down, we see NZ’s BJ Watling with 241 dismissals including 231 catches as a keeper, 10 catches as a keeper and 8 stumpings. But there is no non-keeper in the above list which goes down to a dismissal rate of 1.500.

Going still further down, the highest dismissal rate by a non-keeper is 1.060 by India’s ED Solkar (53 catches at 1.060). He is just ahead of AB de Villiers at 1.046, with 121 as a fielder and 106 as a keeper.

Test fielding performances of 2016

This is for all Tests in the calendar year 2016.

Most dismissals (10 and above):

tests2016-fielding

Note the relatively low proportion of stumpings, with Bairstow and Kusal Perera leading with 4. The most catches by non-keepers are 29 by SPD Smith followed by JE Root with 26. Also note that Bairstow’s tally of 70 dismissals is almost double that of the second-placed Sarfraz Ahmed.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 and above):

tests2016-fieldinngs

While Bairstow and Saha lead, Root has the highest for non-keepers with 4.

Most dismissals in a match (5 and above):

tests2016-fieldmatch

Note Bairstow’s dominance at the top, being the only one with two 9-fors, as well as several more near the top. The most by non-keepers is 6 by Smith.

Highest fielding average (Minimum 15 innings fielded, 0.500 or more dismissals per innings):

tests2016-fieldavg

Here de Kock is a little ahead of Bairstow. Among the non-keepers, Smith and Root lead (along with Kusal Mendis who kept in a few matches)

To be continued.