10 greatest All- Rounders of all time Relive:Sobers marvel(Sir Gary Sobers: 254 against Australia)

[robin2855]

10 GREATEST ALL-ROUNDERS OF ALL TIME

I have promised readers that we will have a thread on 10 Greatest All-Rounders of all time this weekend. So let?s get started on that.

Before we make a start let?s take a look at Wikipedia?s definition of an All-Rounder.

An all-rounder is a cricket player who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and most batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists. Some wicket-keepers have the skills of a specialist batsman and have been referred to as all-rounders, but the term wicketkeeper-batsman is more commonly applied to them.

So far as my selection is concerned I have also considered the all-rounders on my list comprising those who not only contributed solidly with the bat and ball consistently but also their contributions resulted in team?s victories which is what matters most at the end of the day.

So readers now you have a big opportunity to name your favorite all-rounders of your choice.

To get the ball rolling here?s my choice:

1. Sir Garfiled Sobers
2. Imran Khan
3. Sir Ian Botham
4. Kapil Dev
5. Sir Richard Hadlee
6. Keith Miller
7. Jacques Kallis
8. A Flintoff
9. Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson(S)
10. * Vetorri, Shaun Maclean Pollock, Chris Cairns

Note : 10* They are obviously not of the same class as 1-9 though Vetorri is improving every game and has under his belt some fighting knocks.

What?s readers choice?

Good luck and Cheers!

 

[sifter132]

A quite good list Robin on my first reaction. Plenty of good guys in there. Some thoughts:

*I've always thought Botham was a trifle overrated since his bowling tailed off after his great career start and his batting was quite hit and miss. Yes the '81 Ashes, blah blah, but where else did he dominate? But he is still a top 5 guy for me, very talented.
*Sobers was awesome as a batsman, but I'm not sure he would have made the Windies team if he batted like Chris Martin ie. his bowling was good, but not world class.
*Imran was always a good bowler, and really developed his batting as time went on. I think Imran of the 80s was probably the best pure all-rounder ever, as his batting had advanced enough for him to bat top 6 and he still led the Pakistan attack well as their best bowler.
*Keith Miller was probably the other guy along with Imran who was a pure all-rounder, an opening bowler and a top 6 batsman. Not as valuable overall as Sobers though.
*Kallis' bowling is still underrated and probably as good as Sobers was with the ball. His batting though does not quite match the WI master.
*Flintoff has/had the tools to be a quality all-rounder, but constant injury and a lack of batting consistency have foiled his claims to be higher.

Some other considerations for the list:
*Alan Davidson (Australia) - Excellent left arm opening fast bowler and very useful lower order player. Often batted below Richie Benaud although both of them averaged 25 in Tests. But definitely up there with the bowling all-rounders like Benaud, Hadlee, Pollock, Vettori and perhaps Dev and Imran too.
*Wasim Akram (Pakistan) - Similar to Davo, as a leftie who swung the ball and hit hard down the order. Should have been one of the great all-rounders as he had so much talent with the bat, but so often threw his wicket away.
*Mitchell Johnson (Australia) - More a projection really, but complete a leftie trio here. Hard hitter at #8, who made a century and 90-odd recently on the South Africa tour and has plenty of potential to improve his batting since he took it up late in life after playing tennis earlier in his childhood.

And for the oldies:
*Aubrey Faulkner (South Africa) - The only man to lead the ICC ranking system for both batting AND bowling at the same time back around World War I. I don't know too much about him (before my time ). His stats show he averaged 40 with the bat, in a tough time for batsmen. The renowned Victor Trumper for example, averaged 39. And he took 82 wickets in 25 Tests averaging 26, quite a good contribution when you consider guys like Sobers and Kallis only take/took around 2-2.5 wickets per Test.

 

[King Pietersen]

1. Sir Garfield Sobers
2. Keith Miller
3. Imran Khan
4. Jacques Kallis
5. W.G. Grace
6. Ian Botham
7. Richard Hadlee
8. Kapil Dev
9. Wasim Akram
10. Alan Davidson

 

[sami ullah khan]

1. Imran Khan. It is very rare that we see a genuine fast bowler with a very good batting technique. That along with his leadership qualities make him the greatest ever allrounder to me.
2. Sir Garfield Sobers
3. Sir Richard Hadlee
4. Jacques Kallis
5. Keith Miller
6.Ian Botham
7. Kapil Dev
8. Andrew Flintoff
9. Chris Cairns
10.Shaun Pollock

 

[robin2855]

An Imran Khan Appreciation

AN IMRAN KHAN APPRECIATION

So far everyone has Imran in their 10 Greatest All-rounder list and rightly so. Sequence does not matter . Please don?t take it personally on the sequence of any particular reader. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. It is one?s personal perception and we all have to respect that.

Getting back to Imran ? This Legend (#1 on my all time favorites) has one important quality off the field and a vital one is the fact that beside being one of the finest All -Rounder and Captain of all time he was also a Master Speaker and in which respect I may dare say none of the other great all-Rounders an match him.Can They?

Lets? Relive a few of them to testify my claim.

They are :

Imran Khan 1992 World Cup Final Cornered Tiger Interview

Imran Khan At The ICC Award 2006 Presentation

Imran Khan in India

The third one is a Hindi . So my apologies to non Hindi readers .

I am sure everyone will love it.

Here you go :

Imran Khan 1992 World Cup Final Cornered Tiger Interview.

Type in google search :Imran Khan 1992 World Cup Final Cornered Tiger Interview

Imran Khan At The ICC Award 2006 Presentation.

Type in google search : Imran Khan At The ICC Award 2006 Presentation

Imran Khan in India.

Type in google search : Imran Khan in India

Hope everyone enjoyed it.

Cheers!

 

[King Pietersen]

Imran Khan was a superb all-rounder, but for me the greatest is a very easy choice, it's clearly Sir Garfield Sobers. Never has there been a greater all-round cricketer than Sobers. A masterful batsman who is regarded as the joint greatest left-handed batsman (alongside Graeme Pollock) by Sir Don Bradman. Sobers had everything as a batsman, he was capable of sitting in and occupying the crease and was also capable of single handedly destroying an attack. Alongside his batting he was a beast in the field, and possibly the greatest close fielder the game has ever seen, he was superb in the leg-slip position or at Short leg. He just loved being involved in the game. That need to constantly be involved is what led Sobers to developing 2 styles of bowling. In his early years he bowled at a more than decent pace, and then as he got older developed into more of a medium pace swing bowler. He also bowled very handy left arm spin. The ultimate cricketer, a true all-rounder.

 

[Precambrian]

10 GREATEST ALL-ROUNDERS OF ALL TIME

I have promised readers that we will have a thread on 10 Greatest All-Rounders of all time this weekend. So let?s get started on that.

Before we make a start let?s take a look at Wikipedia?s definition of an All-Rounder.

An all-rounder is a cricket player who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and most batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists. Some wicket-keepers have the skills of a specialist batsman and have been referred to as all-rounders, but the term wicketkeeper-batsman is more commonly applied to them.

So far as my selection is concerned I have also considered the all-rounders on my list comprising those who not only contributed solidly with the bat and ball consistently but also their contributions resulted in team?s victories which is what matters most at the end of the day.

So readers now you have a big opportunity to name your favorite all-rounders of your choice.

To get the ball rolling here?s my choice:

1. Sir Garfiled Sobers
2. Imran Khan
3. Sir Ian Botham
4. Kapil Dev
5. Sir Richard Hadlee
6. Keith Miller
7. Jacques Kallis
8. A Flintoff
9. Richie Benaud
10. * Vetorri, Shaun Maclean Pollock, Chris Cairns

Note : 10* They are obviously not of the same class as 1-9 though Vetorri is improving every game and has under his belt some fighting knocks.

What?s readers choice?

Good luck and Cheers!

Replace Flintoff with Shaun Pollock and list Flintoff at no.10.

Also you have forgotten Vinoo Mankad.

 

[sifter132]

In addition to my earlier post, I'd like to nominate Tony Greig as well as a potential top 10 candidate - very under appreciated cricketer who has become more famous for commentary, but was an excellent all-rounder.

Honourable mention for Mike Procter - had he been able to play more Test cricket he would be talked about as a great all-rounder.

 

[King Pietersen]

Forget Flintoff and Pollock. Where are Alan Davidson, WG Grace, then there are names that I forgot to mention, like Mike Proctor, Wilfred Rhodes, Vinoo Mankad, Monty Noble and Baron Constantine. You could also mention Adam Gilchrist and Les Ames, as they were Wicket-keeping all-rounders. If we're including Keepers as all-rounders, then I'd like to change my Top 10 to include Ames...

1. Sir Garfield Sobers
2. Keith Miller
3. Imran Khan
4. Jacques Kallis
5. W.G. Grace
6. Ian Botham
7. Richard Hadlee
8. Kapil Dev
9. Les Ames
10. Wilfred Rhodes

Also replaced Wasim Akram with Wilfred Rhodes, as after checking his stats out closer he wasn't really much of an all-rounder, making most of his big runs on flat tracks or against Minnows. Happy with that Top 10.

 

[robin2855]

A Humble Comparison : Legend Sir Gary Sobers Vs Legend Imran Khan .

A Humble Comparison :Legend Sir Gary Sobers Vs Legend Imran Khan.

Legend Sir Gary Sobers Vs Legend Imran Khan.Who’s Better?

Let’s analyze by considering the following:

a)By All-rounder Definition.

b)By overall performance in all departments on the filed ( Batting, Bowling, Fielding, Captaincy).

c) Off the Field (Crowd Attraction, Speaker on Cricket).

d) Overall (All-rounder Definition, Overall performance in all departments on the field (Batting, Bowling, Fielding, Captaincy), Off the Field (All combined).

In terms of batting skills Sobers is unquestionably way ahead of not only Imran but barring Sir Don Bradman, Tendulkar above everyone else and was a match winner purely on his batting abilities.

In terms of bowling Sobers was a versatile bowler. He could bowl six different types of balls in the form of spin or fast medium. But Sobers cannot match Imran in bowling abilities either statwise or ultimate resullts (Imran’s deadly bowling were often a match winning performances. The same cannot be said abut Sobers).

As far as catching is concerned Sobers is most likely the finest fielder West Indies has produced and one of the fimest the world has seen. He could field at any positions and take blinders . Imran cannot match him on that. Can he?

Captiancywise Sobers was an astute leader with his great knowledge of the game but cannot match Imran either qualitywise,overall resultwise. Imran was an exceptional motivator,lead by example and brought incredible victories often from Jaws of defeat.

Overall on field technically they are tied. ( Sobers for Batting + Fielding)
Imran for (Bowling + Captaincy).

But realistically because Sobers is way ahead of Imran in batting and fielding edges out Imran. That is a fact.

Off the field

There are two interesting factors I would like to consider.

Crowd Attraction & Skills as a Speaker on Cricket.

Crowd Attraction

Wherever Sobers and Imran played crowds packed in huge numbers.

Crowds loved to watch Sobers to enjoy his superlative performances.

Crowds thronged in to see Imran’s inspiring Bowling, batting, leadership.

And last but not the least Good looks (He was a heart throb for Women young and old alike)

His link ups (True or False is anybody’s guess) with famous Indian Film Actresses of yesteryears - Zeenat Aman and Mun Mun Sen are folklores)

Skills as a Speaker on Cricket

Imran with his strong and solid educational base and great knowledge of the game was an awesome speaker on Cricket and delivered some great speeches everywhere in the world . No other cricketer can match him on that let alone Sobers. At least not that I know of.

What do we finally conclude?

In terms of All-round definition and on the cricket field it has to be Sobers.

In terms of Off field It is Imran.

Overall on All-Round definition, On ,Off field Imran and Sobers are tied ( This is my personal perception no offense intended to Sober’s fan).

What's reader's take on this comparison?

Cheers!

 

[Precambrian]

What's skills off the ground got to do with assessing their quality as allrounders. There is no comparison between Sobers and Imran. Sobers hands and legs down.

 

[robin2855]

Welcome Precambrian!

What's skills off the ground got to do with assessing their quality as allrounders. There is no comparison between Sobers and Imran. Sobers hands and legs down.

We are considering All- Rounders by defiintion.

The defintion of Allrounder by Wikipedia does not gives us the scope to compare other onfield skills like captaincy and Fielding.Thus the necessity of overall Onfield comparison techincally ad realistically. You cannot ignore the on field fielding and Captaincy skills of any player not necessairily Sobers or Imran. Any shortcomings in any of these areas can Win or Mar a match.Can you ignore that?Certainly not.

The other off field things has no bearing on their onfield performance. Just an appreciation of how they fared in those areas.Do not worry.You are not losing or winning a point on that(LOL!). A bonus you can say for readers to know about this aspect. It does not hurt to know. Does it?(LOL!)

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

 

[Precambrian]

We are considering All- Rounders by defiintion.

The defintion of Allrounder by Wikipedia does not gives us the scope to compare other onfield skills like captaincy and Fielding.Thus the necessity of overall Onfield comparison techincally ad realistically. You cannot ignore the on field fielding and Captaincy skills of any player not necessairily Sobers or Imran. Any shortcomings in any of these areas can Win or Mar a match.Can you ignore that?Certainly not.

The other off field things has no bearing on their onfield performance. Just an appreciation of how they fared in those areas.Do not worry.You are not losing or winning a point on that(LOL!). A bonus you can say for readers to know about this aspect. It does not hurt to know. Does it?(LOL!)

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Fair enough. But I still object the inclusion of off field activities like political life, the number of women they bedded etc in to this analysis. Ignore such trivial stuff, and Imran can only be compared to Sobers just on captaincy.

 

[robin2855]

Batting for Imran Khan

Fair enough. But I still object the inclusion of off field activities like political life, the number of women they bedded etc in to this analysis. Ignore such trivial stuff, and Imran can only be compared to Sobers just on captaincy.

I did not mention any Political stuff at all. Where did you manufacture that from? I stay away from that 1000 miles - least thing I like in life. I am a peace loving person.

I touched on their ability to pull crowds by dint of performance and one cannot deny Imran's Good looks which does contributed to Crowd turnover in huge numbers - albeit I did mention of Zeeenat Aman or Mun Mun that may sound a Loud to you . It was a passing mention. Hope you are okay with that(LOL!)

I am glad you acknowledged the need of a captaincy comparison. The fielding is also important.

Hope this helps .

Cheers!

 

[robin2855]

Great Post sifter132

A quite good list Robin on my first reaction. Plenty of good guys in there. Some thoughts:

*I've always thought Botham was a trifle overrated since his bowling tailed off after his great career start and his batting was quite hit and miss. Yes the '81 Ashes, blah blah, but where else did he dominate? But he is still a top 5 guy for me, very talented.
*Sobers was awesome as a batsman, but I'm not sure he would have made the Windies team if he batted like Chris Martin ie. his bowling was good, but not world class.
*Imran was always a good bowler, and really developed his batting as time went on. I think Imran of the 80s was probably the best pure all-rounder ever, as his batting had advanced enough for him to bat top 6 and he still led the Pakistan attack well as their best bowler.
*Keith Miller was probably the other guy along with Imran who was a pure all-rounder, an opening bowler and a top 6 batsman. Not as valuable overall as Sobers though.
*Kallis' bowling is still underrated and probably as good as Sobers was with the ball. His batting though does not quite match the WI master.
*Flintoff has/had the tools to be a quality all-rounder, but constant injury and a lack of batting consistency have foiled his claims to be higher.

Some other considerations for the list:
*Alan Davidson (Australia) - Excellent left arm opening fast bowler and very useful lower order player. Often batted below Richie Benaud although both of them averaged 25 in Tests. But definitely up there with the bowling all-rounders like Benaud, Hadlee, Pollock, Vettori and perhaps Dev and Imran too.
*Wasim Akram (Pakistan) - Similar to Davo, as a leftie who swung the ball and hit hard down the order. Should have been one of the great all-rounders as he had so much talent with the bat, but so often threw his wicket away.
*Mitchell Johnson (Australia) - More a projection really, but complete a leftie trio here. Hard hitter at #8, who made a century and 90-odd recently on the South Africa tour and has plenty of potential to improve his batting since he took it up late in life after playing tennis earlier in his childhood.

And for the oldies:
*Aubrey Faulkner (South Africa) - The only man to lead the ICC ranking system for both batting AND bowling at the same time back around World War I. I don't know too much about him (before my time ). His stats show he averaged 40 with the bat, in a tough time for batsmen. The renowned Victor Trumper for example, averaged 39. And he took 82 wickets in 25 Tests averaging 26, quite a good contribution when you consider guys like Sobers and Kallis only take/took around 2-2.5 wickets per Test.

Best Post so far sifter132

Welcome back.

Both your posts are high quality and enlightening for me and for all readers as well.

It reflects the fact:

That you go for a comprehensive researching.

Possess Loads of Analytical thinking .

Give credit to the deserving one based on your thorough research and findings - Hallmark of a Good, Analytical and Thinking mind.

Honestly speaking I somehow missed Alan Davidson : I am a great fan of him .Awesome cricketer. He is also a great Cricket Analyst.

Watched him and his expert comments on several legends in ESPN’s Cricket Legends. He is too good a bowling All-Rounder not to be considered.

So I am going to include him on my list. As this lead is coming from your post I will put a S in bracket beside his name to acknowledge the fact it has been inspired from your post. I would like to thank you for that.

For reader’s benefit I am going to mention here Alan Davidson’s tremendous all-round performance in the famous tied test match against the formidable West Indies held at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane from (9-14),December 1960.

Facing the might of Hall at his lethal best and West Indian Spin Wizards Valentine and Ramadhin and bowling against a formidable lineup comprised of Hunte, Kanhai, Sobers, Worrell, Solomon was a tough asking.

Brave heart Alan Davidson performed magnificently in that match returning figures of 5 for 135 and 6 for 87 in first and second innings of the match respectively.

When his time to bat came he responded with two heroic knocks of 44 and 80 in the first and second innings respectively.

By virtue of this superlative performance Davidson become the first Cricketer to score a double of 100 runs and 100 wickets in test cricket.

I am fortunate to have seen the highlights of this incredible and entertaining match on a DVD commercially available from ABC Video under the caption ‘TIED TEST’ (50 mts – Black and White).It also features Interviews with Alan Davidson, Lindsay Kline and Colin McDonald – a Superstuff

You also mentioned about Tony Greig who was also an All – Rounder . And last but not the least Aubrey Faulkner (South Africa).

I have not heard of him before. A search shows

He scored 1754 runs in 25 matches only averaging 40.99 with 4 centuries and 8fifties.

Bowlingwise 82 wickets at ave 26.58.

That’s amazing!

Looking forward to more fireworks from your end.

Cheers!