Australia’s Adam Gilchrist became the leading run-scorer wicket-keeper in the history of Test cricket during the just concluded Manchester Test against England. Gilchrist ended the Test with a tally of 4,572 runs to go ahead of England’s Alec Stewart’s run-aggregate of 4,540 runs in 82 Tests (although Stewart played in 133 Tests, he kept wickets in 82 Tests only).
Interestingly Gilchrist needed 11 Tests and 42 innings fewer than Stewart to surpass his aggregate. Gilchrist now holds the records of scoring maximum runs, hitting most hundreds. Gilchrist’s batting average is also the highest for any wicket-keeper who has aggregated more than 500 runs in a career. Zimbabwean Andy Flower is the only other wicket-keeper to end up with 10 or more hundreds and a batting average of 50-plus.
The accompanying table lists the leading run scoring wicket-keepers in Test cricket:
Interestingly Gilchrist needed 11 Tests and 42 innings fewer than Stewart to surpass his aggregate. Gilchrist now holds the records of scoring maximum runs, hitting most hundreds. Gilchrist’s batting average is also the highest for any wicket-keeper who has aggregated more than 500 runs in a career. Zimbabwean Andy Flower is the only other wicket-keeper to end up with 10 or more hundreds and a batting average of 50-plus.
The accompanying table lists the leading run scoring wicket-keepers in Test cricket:
Runs Keeper For Tests Ave 100s 50s
4572 AC Gilchrist Aus 71 53.79 15 20
4540 AJ Stewart Eng 82 34.92 6 23
4404 A Flower Zim 55 53.71 12 23
4389 APE Knott Eng 95 32.75 5 30
4356 IA Healy Aus 119 27.40 4 22
3633 RW Marsh Aus 96 26.52 3 16
3146 PJL Dujon WI 79 31.46 5 16
3007 MV Boucher SA 84 30.68 4 18
2759 SMH Kirmani Ind 88 27.05 2 12
2611 FM Engineer Ind 46 31.08 2 16
2581 Moin Khan Pak 66 28.68 4 14
2577 RD Jacobs WI 65 28.32 3 14
2479 AC Parore NZ 67 26.95 2 11
2439 TG Evans Eng 91 20.50 2 8
2387 LEG Ames Eng 44 43.40 8 7
2336 JHB Waite SA 49 30.34 4 16
2300 KC S'kkara SL 35 41.82 6 7
2010 Imtiaz Ahmed Pak 38 30.45 3 11
