It's about time Tim Ambrose was given a chance. he is by far the best wicketkeeper in the UK and he has been in sensational form with the bat for Warwickshire this year.

david burnley, london,

Seriously, England have never had good technical wicket keepers - Russel and Stewart where adequate but would have been challenged had they had to keep to a Warne or Macgill.
Read is the best keeper in England, technically correct and drops very little - the only individual that could keep to a good spinner on a turning track.
A batsman should question the viability of leaving his crease to attack the spinner or the medium pacer should the keeper be standing up - I know Prior needs work but from watching his technique and application, he is rubbish.

Chris, Sydney, Australia

Flintoff's excellence has created selections like Watson, blokes who are equally mediocre at both batting and bowling.

Gilchrist's excellence has created blokes like Prior.

If you can't get a Flintoff, better off to get a pure bowler (or batsman, whichever you need).

If you can't get a Gilly, get a pure keeper.

Before Gilchrist, Australia began its phenomenal run with a bloke possessed of the ugliest batting stance ever. Healy did hit a couple of centuries, but he mostly just chipped in a few runs here and there. He wouldn't get within a mile of the current England team. But he had springy knees and soft gloves. When Warne was at his astonishing peak, Heals caught everything and almost never let the batsman escape strike with a bye.

Pressure doesn't come from a yapping in your ear, it comes from a bloke standing behind you, breathing down your neck, dropping nothing and letting nothing through and begging you to make the tiniest mistake.

Dan Hagan, Melbourne,

Please don't compare Gilchrist to any of the current crop of batsmen / wk. Gilchrist is a freak. There has been no one like him and there won't be. Dhoni shows flashes of brilliance but he needs to shore up his keeping and bring consistency to his batting. Matt Prior doesn't have it either with the gloves or the bad. He has the mouth though but that doesn't get you runs or wickets. The thing is Gilchrist is the best keeper in Australia. He also happens to be an exceptional bat. Prior doesn't even come close.

Sunny, Adelaide, Australia

It may be "generally accepted" by cricket fans, but few football fans accept the ramblings of a portugeezer as fact and we therefore strongly doubt the outcome of the title race would have been different were Cech fit.

The article ignores the fact (journalists are getting good at that)
that the alternatives are pretty second rate wicket keepers too (Yes Even Chris Reid). We don't have a Knott or Russell do we?

madgooner, Northwood,

Continuing the Healy vs Gilchrist debate, Gichrist had to wait a good three years after his ODI debut to gain his first Test cap. In the shorter version of the game, 'keepers can get away with poor technique, but not in the test matches. Hence the selectors played the superior 'keeper (Healy in this case) in test matches, until Gilchrist had convinced the selectors that his 'keeping abilities alone merit him a place in the test team. Same was the case with Rahul Dravid keeping wickets for India for 12-14 months in the lead-up to and during the 2003 world cup, which gave India the ability to play 7 specialist batsmen. Neither the Indian selectors nor Dravid himself fancied him as a Test match 'keeper.

Kartik Sivaraman, Bangalore, India

Good article, Mr Barnes. I don't know whether England's selectorial mindset will change ( Forget Gilly, Alec Stewarts don't grow on trees) but the immediate solution to the Prior problem can be summed up in two word: "Freddie Flintoff". The day he's back in the side, you have a strike bowler who can be genuinely rapid and an excellent No 7. You can then play your best keeper Read/Jones/ whoever, who will be good for say 30 runs at number 8 and England look like a pretty good side.

Ramesh , Bangalore, India

Less mouth....more footwork....bring on Chris Read. We saw him briefly in the Caribbean in 2004 and couldn't understand why the preference for Geraint Jones....now we know...

Rima Mohammed, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago

Dodgy England wicketkeeper. Dodgy coach? All the controversy of the second test. Probable series defeat by India. The test series hammering of West Indies was but a mirage. It's turning pear-shaped for England. Sack Moores before he becomes a cricketing version of Steve MacLaren!

Peter Koeb, Geneva, Switzerland

Sean, you are entitled to your opinion but the stats don't support you. Gilchrist has the highest dismissal rate of any 'keeper with 100 or more dismissals. It is 4.23 compared to Healy with a 3.32. He also has a higher dismissal rate than Healy when keeping to McGrath and Warne. What will suprise a lot of people is that his stumping rate to Warne is .488 per match compared to .417 by Healy. Gilchrist has 4 of the top 10 of all time most successful bowler/keeper combinations compared to Healy's one.

The stats become more stark when we look at England. G Jones has the highest dismissal rate of any England 'keeper ever at 3.8. Alan Knott and Godfrey Evans languish at 2.83 and 2.41 respectively a little over half Gilchrist.

The job of the 'keeper is to take the chances and help create chances. Gilchrist is clearly the best ever at doing this. Unfortunately people tend to rate 'keepers on style or the number of byes both of which are normally relatively meaningless .

Brett Jobson, Sydney, Australia

Good article.

Brett Jobson, I don't think you need to go back 60 years to find a better gloveman than Gilchrist. Healy was superior with the gloves, and I imagine there may have been others in the past 60 years. I do think Gilchrist is a very good keeper, and substantially better than many that currently play for other countries.

Sean, Mornington, Australia

One week Simon Wilde is comparing Matt Prior to Adam Gilchrist the next Simon Barnes says that Prior is not a very good 'keeper. Of course the Wildecomment is preposterous. Gilchrist is probably Australia's best gloveman in the last 60 years. Statistics support the view. The fact that he could bat in the top 6 is a substantial bonus. England needs to select the best wicketkeeper not pick Prior for his perceived superior batting and hope he doesn't drop too many catches in the field. Jones seems to be by far the best bet.

Mr Barnes, the England selectors dropped the Pataudi trophy.

Brett Jobson, Sydney, Australia

As a Man of Kent (now a resident of New Zealand) and an avid Godfrey Evans and Alan Knott fan, it is hard to watch such a pathetic performance from an England wicket-keeper. God know, Jones was bad enough (and he should feel guilty every time he puts his Kent cap on), but this guy is just awful. Still, I read after the last Test where the coach said Prior was selected for his sledging ability so nobody should blame him if his keeping is not up to scratch. But I really don't care any more because I gave up supporting England years ago and am now right behind the NZ team.

Best Regards

Norman Hogwood, Auckland, New Zealand