Cricket's Greatest All-Rounders

[courtjester]

Who would you say is the greatest all-rounder in cricket history, and why?

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Well, the first that comes to mind is Sir Garfield Sobers. Had such a big impact on the game and his name is still synonymous with attacking play and West Indian flair today.

From a local perspective, perhaps Keith Miller? His story is amazing, from flying in the War to sending down thunderbolts and playing dashing knocks with impressive regularity.

From a modern perspective, I guess you'd nominate Jacques Kallis. His bowling isn't of the standing of the other two mentioned, but his batting more than makes up for any shortcomings there.

As for who the next great all rounder will be in World cricket? I don't see many obvious candidates. I think Mitch Marsh has potential but will probably develop into a Flintoff type who plays a few devastating knocks and takes a few bags but is plagued by injury and is a little inconsistent throughout his career.

 

[dan warna]

Sobers, great batsman, all round bowler who could bowl medium fast, off spin and leg spin. I think from memory batting was in high 50s and bowling mid 30s. Rated as the greatest by many as he could arguably hold his place in a test side as a batsman, paceman, leg spinner or off spinner.

Khan and Miller. Khan shades Miller statistically, both had flair, personality, dash. Pakistani's argue that miller played in an easier era with regard to bowling and often against an england damaged by WW2, Australians argue Khan's statistics are edged out due to home town decisions. Definitely an argument for the ages. For me, its miller, because he lost years to WW2, kicked 9 goals from CHF, represented NSW and victoria at AFL and cricket, could play tennis, bombed berlin, screwed 1/2 the british nobility (according to legend), did a fly over Beethovens birth place after bombing berlin, stuck his nose up at authority and frankly the brits had to invent hero's like him. Certainly did some 'bad' things in his RAF career and cricket career but then it adds to the legend IMO.

Kallis, started off as a lower middle order batsman with some talent who could bowl at 150kmhr. Back injuries curtailed his bowling shortly after getting 150 wickets, and he was little more than a Jeff crowe trundler for the last 7-8 years. His batting has flourished and while he lacks any flair with the bat, his stodgy scoring has been the backbone of the the RSA middle order for a more than a decade. Again in an era with more than a dozen batsmen averaging over 50, it detracts somewhat, plus plundering the zimmers and bangers regularly. His bowling average has slid up from 25/26 to 32/33 over the past few years from being the first drop after an era of donald, ntini and pollock, to plugging a few overs here and there.

Beefy Botham, averaged in the mid 30s with the bat, and high 20s with the ball (again from memory) his career went up and down with responsibility, booze and his own delusions of grandeur. A bit like warne, his legend is bigger than him. Performed well in spits and spats during his career with the bat, but always a solid and sometimes dangerous medium fast bowler.

Vetorri (captain, best batman and best bowler of NZ), Dev (adequate accumulator of wickets who once held the record for the highest ODI score with 175 I think?), Hadlee (great bowler who could bat), Pollock (father (batting /bowling) and son (Bowler who could bat) Akram, Cairns (lance and chris, both bowlers with some big hitting lower order batsman) are others that come to mind as all rounders.

 

[sherb]

It's probably worth mentioning that Sobers could field a bit as well.

A couple of brilliant South African all-rounders who don't get mentioned much - because they didn't play much/any Test Cricket - are Mike Procter and Clive Rice.

 

[Tassieboy]

It's interesting how no one has mentioned Dr William Gilbert Grace (W.G. Grace). He scored 54,896 first class runs (at 39.55), scored 126 centuries and 244 fifties in 872 matches. Along with this, he took 2876 first-class wickets (at 17.92), captured five wickets in an innings 246 times and ten wickets in a match on 66 occasions. Grace was a dominant batsman in his era - as most top-quality batsman averaged around twenty, extremely low compared to today’s standards. Pitches were usually no different to the rest of the playing surface, thus providing uneven and concerning movement. Most who saw him say Grace, as a fielder, was good, often in the cover and point regions.

Nonetheless, even though I never saw him, it seems obvious to say West Indian Sir Garfield Sobers is the greatest all-rounder of all-time. Not only was he a great batsman, bowler and fieldsman, he had something no other great all-rounder possessed - a variety of left-arm bowling styles. Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman and many believe cricketer of all-time, described Sobers as a “five-in-one cricketer” (batsman, fieldsman and three-in-one bowler). As mentioned, he could open the bowling with in-swingers to the right handed batmen, before bowling his two styles of spin - left-arm orthodox and wrist spin. His effectiveness as a bowler, however, was nullified by being the West Indies’ leading batsman for most of his career. Sobers averaged 72 as a number three batsman and 64 at number four, but 107 of his 160 Test innings were at five, six or seven in the order, mainly because of the need to rest from bowling. Sobers’ long individual batting efforts - including twenty-six centuries - may have also affected his inflated Test bowling average of 34 because he would often already be fatigued before beginning his bowling spell. This, and being part of a team which had two of the world’s best fast bowlers - Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith - and accomplished off-spinner Lance Gibbs at its disposal. Sobers mostly had to bowl into the wind when playing with the two faster men, before having to bowl long, defensive spells after their retirement, therefore decreasing the possibly of taking wickets.

Sobers was also a brilliant fielder and inventive captain. A quick Cricinfo search says, “His catching close to the wicket may have been equalled but never surpassed, and he was a brilliant fielder anywhere.” Former Australian captain Richie Benaud described Sobers as "the greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen". Sobers was "a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin,” according to the Australian. No one has mentioned Sobers’ captaincy style that also impressed many, despite that infamous declaration.

 

[Abhishek Mishra]

Kapil Dev is a best All rounder forever did you seem his world cup performsnce

 

[dan warna]

Kapil Dev is a best All rounder forever did you seem his world cup performsnce and tendulkar is better than bradman

corrected for internal consistency with regard to rabid opinions.

 

[worbod]

I'm going to try laying out my opinions like so:

Best three all rounders from each country

AUSTRALIA: Keith Miller, Jack Gregory, Warwick Armstrong
ENGLAND: Ian Botham, Wilfred Rhodes, Tony Greig
SOUTH AFRICA: Mike Procter, Jacques Kallis, Eddie Barlow
WEST INDIES: Garfield Sobers, Keith Boyce, Frank Worrell
NEW ZEALAND: Chris Cairns, Richard Hadlee, John Reid
INDIA: Kapil Dev, Vinoo Mankad, Ravi Shastri
PAKISTAN: Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad, Wasim Akram

 

[STFU Donnie]

I have been trying to post an in-depth reply to this but am having huge problems with formatting.

I have converted my post intoa pdf and am uploading. Hope it works.

 

[white stain 3]

Don't really know the names mentioned above too well...but from the cricket i've seen, Kallis stands out to me. Also, i always thought that Jacob Oram from the NZ had a lot of potential but it never really worked out for him. When i watched that series against Australia in the mid noughties, he looked like the next big thing.

 

[ZAAHAARAKIS!!!!!]

This thread lacks Richie Benaud.
His numbers may not say alot (2500 runs at 20 something, 250 wickets at 28 IIRC), But he was just a ridiculously good all round cricketer (bat, ball, field and skippered the Aussies as well).
Being a bit of a leg spinning all rounder myself, one of my favorite pass times is listen to him commentate old warnie tapes, the man is a flat out legend.

 

[STFU Donnie]

Hello Again

I have expanded my table to include more all rounders. Again I have added a pdf file with all the details.

But a quick summary is:

Sobers (238 pts per Test); Kallis (216); Imran (214); Faulkner (212); Miller (189); Hadlee (169);
Pollock (161); Botham (155); Greig (146); Dev (114); Benaud (108).

These ratings are determined using only the players' career stats, and do not include any subjective intangibles.
I hope people take the opportunity to read the details.

Donnie

PS. Aubrey Faulkner was a South African all-rounder who played 1906-1924. His stats are extremely
impressive and he deserves to be remembered.

 

[dan warna]

This thread needs more steve smith...