Who is the ultimate allrounder to have played the game of cricket. We are not talking about the utility players used these days but geniune all rounders. I think one can safley say not a whole lot of geniune allrounders played the game of cricket. It started off with Sir Gary Sobers and after him I think the era of all rounders came with Imran, Kapil, Botham and Hadlee. Whenever I say Imran was the best all rounder people would raise questions about how biased I am in stating that. Since I am from Pakistan a natural liking for the king Khan is a given but I am going to try and take an objective look at things here. I will list a few players and their stasitics that I consider geniune all rounders. Fell free to add a name if you think one deserves to be there. For me the players I consider geniune all rounders are Sobers, Imran, Kapil, Botham, Hadlee and most recently Kallis.
Sobers was a batting allrounder unlike the 4 that followed him. An outstanding batsman who was also a decent bowler as evident from his 235 test wickets.
Gary Sobers
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 93 160 21 8032 365* 57.78 26 30 109 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 21599 974 7999 235 34.03 6-73 6 0 91.9 2.22
Kapil was not only the best medium fast bowler prodcued by India but by the far the best all rounder from the country who ranked amongst the best not only in his generation but in the all time list. Kapil was a bowler who could be a devastating batsman and have turned many a games in his country favor either with the bat or ball. Kapil was also the first bowler to take 400 wickets in test cricket.
Kapil Dev
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 131 184 15 5248 163 31.05 8 27 64 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 4623.2 1060 12867 434 29.64 9-83 23 2 63.9 2.78
Imran was the only geniuine fast bowler to make it into the list of great all rounders. The best fast bowler produced by Pakistan at that time though after him a few more bowling greats have come. Imran at his best was perhaps the best bowler out of all the all rounders. He was also a very orthodox batsman and the most succesul captain of all arounders. Despite missing tow years at his peak due to a shin inury he still ended up taking 362 test wickets.
Imran Khan
TESTS
(including 02/01/1992)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 88 126 25 3807 136 37.69 6 18 28 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 19458 727 8258 362 22.81 8-58 23 6 53.7 2.54
Ian Botham was a medium pace bowler and devastating middle order batsman who moved up the order in the later part of his career due to the popualr pinch hitter theory adopted in internation cricket. Botham has been hailed by British media as the ultimate allrounder but I can confidently say they are wrong. With the minor exception of slip catching Imran was superior to Botham in every aspect of the game. Imran not only has a better bowling average then Botham but also have a higher batting average.
Ian Botham
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 102 161 6 5200 208 33.54 60.71 14 22 120 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 21815 788 10878 383 28.40 8-34 27 4 56.9 2.99
Hadlee was an amazingly talented medium fast bowler. Whatever he lacked in speed he made up in swing and seam. To date the best bowler prodiced by New Zealand Hadlee was also a good late middle order batmsan/hard hitter. Not one of the few late hitter we see now a days Hadlee was a little more composed that that which is evident from his test batting average which sits at 22.29
Richard Hadlee
TESTS
(career)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 86 134 19 3124 151* 27.16 2 15 39 0
Balls M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 21918 809 9611 431 22.29 9-52 36 9 50.8 2.63
Kallis was the first all rounder to come even remotley close to the above mentioned greats. A lot of utility players were used by teams all over the world but Kallis is a geniune all rounder. An breathtaking stroke maker, amazinlgy talented batsman and a very fine fast medium bowler. Kallis has not yet played enough cricket to catch up to the records of the greats mentioned above but he is on the right track.
Jacques Kallis
TESTS
(including 26/03/2004)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 78 129 21 5840 189* 54.07 41.72 16 29 73 0
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 1806 497 4960 163 30.42 6-54 4 0 66.4 2.74
My vote goes to Imran, who do you think is the best allrounder of all time??
(the best all rounder india have right now)