Alec Stewart and 5 Great England Wicketkeeper-Batsmen
Alec Stewart was a special talent for England. Not only was he an outstanding wicketkeeper, he also scored plenty of runs with the bat.
He played 133 Tests and 170 one-day games for his country during an international career that also saw him enjoy a spell as captain.
Asked to fulfil a number of positions in the batting order with England, the right-hander made 15 hundreds in the longest format as he finished his Test career with an average of 39.54.
Behind the stumps, the former Surrey player held on to 263 catches and also claimed 14 stumpings. His total of 241 dismissals puts him third on the all-time list for England in Test cricket.
On April 8, despite looking fit enough to still be playing now, Stewart turns 52.
To mark his birthday, we have picked out five other great wicketkeeper-batsmen who have represented England through the years.
Honourable Mentions
As always, there are some unfortunate players who did not quite make the final cut.
England has been blessed with some fine wicketkeepers in their history, so here are a few individuals who deserve an honourable mention:
Bob Taylor played 57 Tests for his country, though that number could have been much higher had he not been around in the same era as Alan Knott.
Geraint Jones was part of the England side that wrestled back the Ashes from Australia in the summer of 2005. He averaged in the 20s in both Test and one-day action but can now be found playing international cricket for the country of his birth, Papua New Guinea.
Jim Parks finished with 112 dismissals at the end of his Test career, while Dick Lilley played 35 matches between 1896 and 1909, during which time he also happened to claim a solitary wicket.
Paul Downton may be better known as the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board these days, but during his playing career, he appeared in 30 Tests and 28 ODI matches.
They were all fine players in their own right, but just failed to make the list. Now it is time to reveal the chosen few.
Jack Russell
A quirky character who must surely have made more money from his paintings than he did from playing cricket, Jack Russell appeared in 54 Tests.
The Gloucestershire wicketkeeper often found himself in competition with Alec Stewart to fill the role behind the stumps for England.
The ball seemed to melt into his battered old gloves, with Russell choosing to constantly repair his equipment rather than replace it. He was particularly fond of his white floppy hats.
His batting was ungainly but effective. The left-hander was eccentric in the way he left the ball and lacked a vast array of shots. However, he still finished with an average of 27.10.
He hit two Test centuries, but his most memorable innings was the unbeaten 29 he made against South Africa in Johannesburg, as he combined with Michael Atherton to save his team from defeat.
Russell played his last international fixture in 1998 but carried on in county cricket for a further six years before a back injury sent him into retirement.
He has since devoted a large portion of his time to one of his other great passions—his art.
Godfrey Evans
In summarising the player's career for ESPN Cricinfo, John Thicknesse claimed Godfrey Evans was "arguably the best wicketkeeper the game has ever seen."
The Kent player represented England in 91 Tests from 1946 right through to 1959.
He scored two centuries with the bat. On each occasion he reached three figures, Evans went on to be dismissed for 104.
Evans was the first wicketkeeper to claim 200 dismissals in the longest form of the game, ending up with a final tally of 219 (173 catches, 46 stumpings).
His first-class career continued until 1967, meaning he was well into his 40s by the time he finally hung up his gloves.
Matt Prior
It is only right that Matt Prior should appear on the list, seeing as Alec Stewart was his mentor and one-time manager.
He has so far played 79 Tests for England (while he is currently out of the picture, he could still yet return to the fold), scoring 4,099 runs at an average of 40.18.
However, his international career nearly came to an abrupt end after he was dropped following a difficult tour of Sri Lanka at the end of 2007.
Prior admitted in his autobiography (h/t The Telegraph) that he realised he had to improve his keeping: "I simply didn’t do enough work on my keeping in those days. In fact, I have to say that I actually did pretty well to play 10 Tests with my keeping in the state that it was and the amount of work I used to do."
The Sussex player's efforts paid off as he won back his Test place, quickly becoming an integral part of the successful England sides captained by firstly Andrew Strauss and then Alastair Cook.
A right-handed batsman with a liking for hitting square of the wicket on the off side, Prior has hit seven Test hundreds.
Yet despite his obvious abilities with the bat, Prior never managed to become a regular in one-day cricket. He appeared in 68 games and managed just three half-centuries.
Alan Knott
After making his debut in 1967, Alan Knott quickly looked at home in the England team. He would remain a regular member of it for the next decade.
In his international career, he scored five hundreds in 95 Tests, helping him finish up with an impressive average of 32.75.
However, while his batting was productive, it was his wicketkeeping that made him such a special player.
Michael Henderson wrote in The Telegraph in 2008: "The greatest wicketkeeper-batsman was, and remains, Alan Knott. Most things can be argued either way, but this is one thing that can't."
He claimed 269 dismissals behind the stumps and was rewarded for his fantastic career with a place in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
Knott may have reached a century of Test caps had he not signed up to play in World Series Cricket in 1977.
He returned to the fold three years later, playing in a further five games and rounding out his time with England by helping them to an Ashes series win on home soil in 1981.
All stats used were provided by ESPN Cricinfo and Howstat.com.