But can you believe that a top ranking bowler of Shaun Pollock's calibre has never taken 10 or rmore wickets in a test in his entire test career.That is so strange.
Well even more gobsmacking for me is that Andrew Flintoff has taken only 2 5 wicket hauls in his entire 75 Test career - 2!!!! That is unbelievable really, how could he have not run through more teams? Compare him to other all-rounders similar to him:
Botham? 27 5fers in 102 Tests.
Keith Miller? 7 5fers in 55 Tests.
Chris Cairns? 13 5fers in 62 Tests.
Jacques Kallis? 5 5fers in 131 Tests.
Shaun Pollock? 16 5fers in 108 Tests.
Tony Greig? 6 5fers in 58 Tests.
Garfield Sobers? 6 5fers in 93 Tests.
This is why I like Chris Cairns for example more than Flintoff.
Here's Cairns in 62 Tests:
Batting: 3320 Runs, 33.53 average, 5 centuries
Bowling: 218 wickets, 29.4 average, 13 5fers
Flintoff in 75 Tests:
Batting: 3645 Runs, 31.69 average, 5 centuries
Bowling: 218 wickets, 32.07 average, 2 5fers
So Cairns win in every category over Flintoff: more runs and wickets per test (importance to team), more centuries and 5fers per test (match winning/turning ability), higher batting and lower bowling averages (efficiency and reliability).
But then again, Flintoff had a pretty terrible start to his career and comparing Flintoff to Cairns at their peak, Freddy was maybe marginally better at the peak of his powers in '04 and '05, but Cairns was also fairly awesome at his peak too under Stephen Fleming at the end of the 90s and early 00s.
Anyway, just thought I'd pimp Cairns a bit
My stand on Flintoff is unshaken. Pure stats does not reflect the greatness and genius of a personality.
Agreed here.
While Flintoff's stats are probably less impressive than his legend, the legend is important too.
The thing with Flintoff too is that he's been a very successful ODI all-rounder which makes people remember him as a better Test player than he actually might have been.
And just for the record, my top 10 reads as (based on Tests only):
1. Sir Garfield Sobers - West Indies
Just because he's #1 doesn't mean I adore him. I think his bowling is overrated as people fall in love with the fact he could bowl 3 styles - big whoop, so can I - it's how good you bowl with those styles that matters. But his batting was superb and his bowling was certainly useful.
2. Sir Ian Botham - England
Mainly because he turned matches so often - 14 centuries and 27 5fers makes him the best match winning all-rounder ever. No question. So why doesn't he get my top spot? He was quite inconsistent with bat and his bowling wasn't as constantly good as say Imran's, so he doesn't get top spot.
3. Aubrey Faulkner - South Africa
Never saw him play but the man has a great record. He's my 'I'll put in an older player to look smart' pick
4. Keith Miller - Australia
Where's Imran? I hear you cry. But I like Keith only slightly better. Imran rarely had both skills working well together, he was a great bowler to start with but tailed off later. But by then he'd become a pretty good batsman. Miller always batted in the top 6 (usually at #5, while Imran usually played at #7 or even #8 in earlier years). Miller opened the bowling too forming a legendary partnership with Ray Lindwall.
5. Imran Khan - Pakistan
Tempted to put him higher, as he's probably my favourite all-rounder. He's the first great one I saw. He would have been higher for my list if his batting had been better earlier in his career. But as I pointed out earlier, he averaged 50 with bat and 20 with ball after he started captaining in 1982 - very talented guy and an awesome magnet for fans.
6. Chris Cairns - New Zealand
Check out my comparison with Flintoff above. Cairns has better stats and he also looked just as good, smashing attacks for quick 50s or jagging the ball off the pitch as he carried the Kiwi attack.
7. Jacques Kallis - South Africa
Still very underrated I think. The poor man's Sobers I suppose, but still a great batting all-rounder.
8. Vinoo Mankad - India
More famous for the method of dismissal named after him unfortunately. But he was a productive opener and a probing left arm spinner. Fairly unusual I suppose to see great spinning all-rounders, but Mankad was one.
9. Tony Greig - England
Another man famous for something else - this time his commentary, administrative and marketing roles in cricket. And also for running out Kallicharan after he went to tea... But as an all-rounder Greigy was quite a good batsman making 8 100s in his 58 Tests, and he was also an aggressive medium pacer who took 141 wickets. And the quickness with which he was promoted to captaincy showed how highly regarded he was as a leader or motivator.
10. Sir Richard Hadlee - New Zealand
Despite being at #10 in this list, I think he'd probably bat at #8 in my all-time test team (him or Imran). Awesome bowler, one of the best ever and a more than handy batsman averaging 27 for the Kiwis. He and Ian Smith formed a pretty useful #7 and #8 combination.
And yes, there's no room for Kapil Dev.
Averaging over 50 with bat and under 20 with ball.
Runs 517, Avg: 28.72, HS : 67*, Century 0, Fifties 2)
