The wicket-keeper (also spelt wicketkeeper and often shortened to keeper) in the sport of [cricket]is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike. The wicket-keeper is the only member of the fielding side permitted to wear gloves and external leg guards. The wicket-keeper may also wear a helmet with a mesh face guard to help protect from injury.

It is essentially a specialist role although a keeper is occasionally called upon to bowl, in which case another member of the fielding side temporarily keeps wicket. The role of the keeper is governed by Law 40 of the Laws of Cricket.

The keeper's major function is to stop deliveries that pass the batsman (in order to prevent runs being scored as 'byes'), but he can also attempt to dismiss the batsman in various ways:

A keeper's position depends on the bowler: for fast bowling he will crouch some distance from the stumps, in order to have time to react to edges from the batsman, while for slower bowling, he will come much nearer to the stumps (known as "standing up"), to pressure the batsman into remaining within the crease or risk being stumped. The more skilled the keeper, the faster the bowling to which he is able to "stand up", for instance Godfrey Evans often stood up to Alec Bedser. [1]

Matthew Scott Wade (born 26 December 1987) is an Australian cricketer, who is currently listed with the Victorian cricket team. He has also played One-Day International and Twenty20 International matches for the Australian national team. Originally from Hobart, Tasmania, Wade played both cricket and Australian rules football until the age of 19, participating in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup as well as playing underage football for the Tassie Mariners in the TAC Cup. After representing Tasmania in one List A match, he moved to Victoria for the 2007–08 season to further his opportunities. He soon established himself as Victoria's first-choice wicket-keeper over Adam Crosthwaite, and was selected in the Australia A side in 2010. He made his debut for Australia the following season. Wade is also contracted to play Twenty20 matches for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League (BBL).

Wade was born in Hobart on 26 December 1987, the son of Scott Wade, who had previously played football for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Clarence and Hobart Football Clubs in the Tasmanian Football League (TFL). His grandfather, Michael Wade, had previously served as president of the Hobart Football Club. Growing up, Wade represented Tasmania in underage cricket and underage football, vice-captaining the Tassie Mariners side in the TAC Cup, where he played alongside future Australian Football League players Sam Lonergan, Grant Birchall and Jack Riewoldt, and representing Australia at the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. At the age of 16, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and received two rounds of chemotherapy before he was cleared of the disease.

Kamran Akmal (Urdu: کامران اکمل; born 13 January 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who has played Tests, ODIs and T20Is for Pakistan as a wicket-keeper.

He is a quick-scoring batsman and a wicket-keeper, who has achieved 6 centuries in Test innings. However, his first century was vital - his 109 from the number eight position at Mohali, coming in with Pakistan in a lead of 39 against India in the first Test, ensured that the visitors could draw the match. His form against the touring English in 2005 made him one of the most important players in the team. Naturally, he is a batsman that plays lower down the order but has sometimes opened in both Test and One-day cricket. As an opener he has scored two back to back centuries in ODIs against England. Coming in lower down the order in Test matches, he played one memorable innings. He saved Pakistan from a score of 39/6, scoring a century, to a competitive 245 which helped Pakistan win the match and the series.

His batting was highly productive in early 2006 as he scored seven international hundreds within the space of 6 months. Since his tour of England in Summer 2006 however his batting form dwindled and steadily become worse. His wicket-keeping also worsened and dropped many catches on both the England tour and on a tour to South Africa in early 2007. He then scored an international hundred in the Bangladeshi tour of Pakistan in 2008. He later moved to have some injuries and did not play for some days but later he was again brought into the team.

Ian Andrew Healy (nicknamed "Heals") (born 30 April 1964) is a former cricketer who played for Queensland and Australia. A specialist wicketkeeper and useful right-hand middle-order batsman, he made an unheralded entry to international cricket in 1988, after only six first-class games. His work ethic and combativeness was much needed by an Australian team that was performing poorly. Over the next decade, Healy was a key member of the side as it enjoyed a sustained period of success. By the time of his retirement, Healy held the world record for most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper.

Healy was a very useful batsman and improved dramatically during the second half of his career. All of his four first-class centuries were scored in Test matches. He could be handy as a hitter late in the innings during ODIs: he averaged 21 while scoring at a rate of 83.8 runs per hundred balls. Although touted as a potential leader of the team early in his career, a series of on-field misdemeanours counted against him when the position was vacant. He captained Australia in eight ODIs when the regular skipper Mark Taylor was injured.