This is a chronological list of England Test wicket-keepers. The list comprises players who were the designated wicket-keeper at the toss, so the number of matches does not include times when a player has acted as a stand-in keeper, or appeared as a batsman only.
Alan Knott kept wicket in 95 Test matches for England, and is currently the record-holder, both in terms of caps as wicket keeper, and dismissals. Godfrey Evans is the record-holder for stumpings. A number of the players listed have played a large number of Test matches as specialist batsmen, for example Jonny Bairstow has played 100 Tests in total, as of March 2024.
On occasions, another player has stepped in to relieve the primary wicket-keeper due to injury or illness. Unless the relief player was himself a recognised Test wicket-keeper, he is not included here. The list also does not include Billy Murdoch, who kept in the second innings of his only Test for England, having previously appeared as wicket-keeper in one of his 18 Tests for Australia. He, Jonny Bairstow and Jordan Cox are the only replacement keepers to make a stumping for England. Ten stand-in keepers have taken a total of 19 catches as replacements, including six by Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow and Buttler are unique in that they are both considered specialist wicket keepers for their county teams in first-class cricket, but both have been in the same Test team on multiple occasions with one of them playing as a batsman - more usually with Buttler behind the stumps, but on a few occasions with Bairstow as the designated keeper: and furthermore, both have stood in as keeper for the other due to injury or illness, and both have even made a dismissal under the circumstances while standing in for each other.
On one occasion in 1986, two replacement wicket-keepers were called on, neither of whom were members of the side, and one was a member of the crowd. Former England keeper, Bob Taylor, aged 45 and retired from professional cricket, stepped in at a Test match to replace Bruce French, with the permission of the New Zealand captain, after French had been hit in the head while batting. Taylor's appearance was delayed until third over of the innings, because a suitable playing kit had to be found and tailored to fit him: thus for the first two overs, the role of keeper was temporarily filled by specialist batsman Bill Athey (a member of the playing team) while another substitute fielded in the outfield. Later, Hampshire's Bobby Parks, (son of former England wicket keeper Jim Parks) who did not otherwise make a Test appearance in his career, arrived at lunch on the fourth day, and took over from Taylor for the rest of the day. Bruce French was deemed to have recovered from his injury, and took his position at the start of the fifth day, but was barely needed: only one ball was bowled, and New Zealand lost their last wicket to it. None of the four keepers made a dismissal in the innings.
Statistics are correct as of 13 September 2026.
No. Player County/counties Span Tests Catches Stumpings Totaldismissals 1 Nottinghamshire 1877 2 1 0 1 2 MCC 1879 1 2 0 2 3 Middlesex 1880–1884 4 2 0 2 4 Lancashire 1881–1888 8 10 4 14 5 Kent 1882–1886 6 5 5 10 6 Yorkshire 1884–1885 5 8 3 11 7 Nottinghamshire 1887–1888 3 5 2 7 8 Kent and Surrey 1888–1892 4 2 1 3 9 Middlesex 1890–1893 7 14 3 17 10 Middlesex 1892–1895 5 8 3 11 11 Hampshire and Somerset 1894 1 3 1 4 12 Sussex 1896 3 1 1 2 13 Warwickshire 1896–1909 35 70 22 92 14 Derbyshire 1897–1899 6 11 0 11 15 Gloucestershire 1899–1906 6 8 3 11 16 Middlesex 1906 1 1 0 1 17 Sussex 1907–1908 2 6 0 6 18 Derbyshire 1908 3 7 0 7 19 Surrey 1910–1926 27 61 12 73 20 Surrey 1910 1 0 1 1 21 Warwickshire 1911–1912 10 16 3 19 22 Yorkshire 1921 1 1 0 1 23 Hampshire 1921–1923 7 9 3 12 24 Sussex 1923 1 0 1 1 25 Kent 1924 3 5 1 6 26 Lancashire 1924–1936 24 45 15 60 27 Yorkshire 1927–1928 4 7 2 9 28 Derbyshire 1928–1934 4 8 3 11 29 Gloucestershire 1928 1 1 0 1 30 Kent 1929–1939 44 72 23 95 31 Sussex 1930 4 5 3 8 32 Lancashire 1931–1935 4 5 2 7 33 Kent 1934 1 3 0 3 34 Middlesex 1938 1 2 0 2 35 Yorkshire 1938–1939 4 10 1 11 36 Essex and Yorkshire 1946 3 3 1 4 37 Kent 1946–1959 91 173 46 219 38 Surrey and Sussex 1949 2 5 0 5 39 Surrey 1950–1955 2 7 0 7 40 Yorkshire 1951 2 0 1 1 41 Warwickshire 1951–1955 7 10 2 12 42 Northamptonshire 1954–1963 2 1 0 1 43 Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey 1959–1960 11 24 2 26 44 Sussex and Somerset 1960–1968 43 101 11 112 45 Middlesex 1961–1967 20 52 3 55 46 Nottinghamshire 1961–1962 6 13 2 15 47 Warwickshire 1962–1963 6 20 0 20 48 Yorkshire 1964 2 8 0 8 49 Kent 1967–1981 95 250 19 269 50 Derbyshire 1971–1984 57 167 7 174 51 Yorkshire 1979–1981 4 12 1 13 52 Kent and Middlesex 1981–1988 30 70 5 75 53 Nottinghamshire 1986–1988 16 38 1 39 54 Surrey 1986–1988 8 20 1 21 55 Gloucestershire 1988–1998 54 153 12 165 56 Surrey 1991–2003 82 227 14 241 57 Yorkshire 1993 2 2 0 2 58 Worcestershire 1994–1995 11 46 3 49 59 Lancashire 1998–1999 2 8 0 8 60 Nottinghamshire 1999–2007 15 48 6 54 61 Essex 2001–2002 7 17 1 18 62 Kent 2004–2006 34 128 5 133 63 Sussex 2007–2014 79 243 13 256 64 Warwickshire 2008–2009 11 31 0 31 65 Yorkshire 2013–2023 55 198 13 211 66 Lancashire 2014–2022 37 130 1 131 67 Surrey 2018–2024 21 57 8 63 68 Surrey 2019–2024 6 22 1 23 69 Gloucestershire 2021 2 6 0 6 70 Kent 2022 2 7 0 7 71 Surrey 2024–2026 25 77 2 79 72 Somerset 2026 1 3 0 3
See also List of English Test cricketers
Notes Selby appeared in four further Tests as a fielder, taking no catches. MacGregor appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking no catches. Moon appeared in three further Tests as a fielder, taking three catches. Strudwick appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking no catches. Smith appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking one catch. Ames appeared in three further Tests as a fielder, taking two catches. Gibb appeared in five further Tests as a fielder, taking no catches. Griffith appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking no catches. McIntyre appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking one catch. Parks appeared in three further Tests as a fielder, taking two catches. Murray appeared in one further Test as a fielder, taking no catches. Stewart appeared in 51 further Tests as a fielder, taking 36 catches. Bairstow has appeared in 40 further Tests as a fielder, taking 36 catches. He stood in as wicket-keeper for Foakes and Buttler in six of these games, taking two catches and one stumping; and 19 catches respectively. Buttler has appeared in 20 further Tests as a fielder, taking 23 catches. He stood in as wicket-keeper for Bairstow in one of these games. Pope has appeared in 58 further Tests as a fielder, taking 57 catches.
References