Who Wants To Be an England Wicket-Keeper? I Don't!

If the England wicket-keeper's job was offered to the Devil, would he take it? Well, he'd have to consider whether he would make a right hash of a job before taking it on.

This the problem England have faced in recent years. Who can we put in as England wicket-keeper? Since the luminary that was Alec Stewart retired, no-one's been able to keep their mitts on the job in recent times.

First we had Chris Read. He was first-choice wicket-keeper for the tours to Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka in the 2003/4  season. He played eight out of nine tests, and his work behind the stumps were generally prolific, which made up for his slightly erratic batting form. He was replaced by Geraint Jones soon afterwards, and despite good form for his county Nottinghamshire, has been overlooked for the job ever since.

Jones picked up the gloves after replacing Read. He had shown good form over 2004 and 2005 with solid batting displays against the West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa. He played a good role in taking England to the 2005 Ashes series, where his most notable display was his catch off Kasprowicz from a good ball by Steve Harmison to win the second test at Edgbaston.

However since then his form tailed off and, although the selectors kept faith with him for a good while, he was eventually dropped in favour of Paul Nixon for the 2007 World Cup.

Paul Nixon was only ever a short-term measure. He played in only 19 One Day Internationals, showing good form to make a lot of 50 partnerships with the batting tail before being replaced by Matt Prior.

Prior came in for the West Indies tour in 2007 and showed true promise by scoring a century on his debut. But for the rest of the tour and throughout the summer he failed to reach a half-century again, and was often cited for irresponsible behaviour on the pitch. He was dropped for the 2008 tour of New Zealand in favour of Tim Ambrose.

Now its a battle for the mitts between Tim Ambrose and Phil Mustard. Its a cursed job, and if some-one fluffs it up, they're doomed for eternity.