On October 2, 2007, South Africalegend Mark Boucher broke into record books for becoming the wicketkeeper with the most number of dismissals in Tests. In the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa in Karachi, Boucher assisted Paul Harris to get rid of Umar Gul through stumping and shattered former Australia stumper Ian Healy’s feat. Healy, serving Australia in Tests from 1988 to 1999, picked 395 dismissals in 224 innings of 119 games. With these numbers, he ended up as the most successful wicketkeeper in the longest form of sport.
Before the Karachi Test, Boucher was four hunts away to surpass Healy to become the new owner of the milestone. During the first innings of the game, he got the better of Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdur Rehman, Pakistan
captain Shoaib Malik, and Gul and played a vital part in helping the Protea bowlers to bundle out the hosts on 291 while defending 450 runs. South Africa won the game by 160 runs and Jacques Kallis became the Player of the Match (POTM) for his knocks of 155 and 100*.
Mark Boucher still holds the sensational feat
Mark Boucher still holds the record of most dismissals as wicketkeeper. In 2012, he retired from international cricket with 555 hunts in 281 innings of 147 Tests. Following him, Australia legend Adam Gilchrist is in the second spot on the chart of stumpers with most dismissals. He performed 416 dismissals in 191 innings of 96 games.
Among the top five wicketkeepers with most Test dismissals, three are Australians as Gilchrist, Healy and Rod Marsh are holding the second, third, and fourth spot respectively. India’s former captain MS Dhoni is in fifth place with 294 dismissals in 166 innings of 90 games.
