All-rounder - Concept

Concept

An all-rounder such as Andrew Flintoff is skilled at both batting (top) and bowling (bottom).

There is no precise qualification for a player to be considered an all-rounder and use of the term tends to be subjective. The generally accepted criterion is that a "genuine all-rounder" is someone whose batting or bowling skills, considered alone, would be good enough to win them a place in the team for which they play. Another definition of a "genuine all-rounder" is a player who can through both batting and bowling (though not necessarily both in the same match), consistently "win matches for the team" (i.e., propel his/her team to victory by an outstanding individual performance). By either definition, a genuine all-rounder is quite rare and extremely valuable to a team as he effectively operates as two players.

Confusion sometimes arises when a specialist bowler performs well with the bat. For example, the great West Indies pace bowler Malcolm Marshall sometimes produced a good innings, but not often enough for him to be considered an all-rounder. Instead he would be called a "useful lower order batsman". Equally, a specialist batsmen may be termed a "useful change bowler" and a good example of this type is Allan Border who once took 11 wickets in a Test match in 1989 when conditions suited his occasionally used left arm spin.

One of the main constraints to becoming a recognised all-rounder is that batsmen and bowlers "peak" at different ages. Batsmen tend to reach their peak in their late twenties after their technique has matured through experience. Conversely, fast bowlers often peak in their early to mid twenties at the height of their physical prowess. Other bowlers, mostly spinners but also fast bowlers who can "swing" the ball, are most effective in their later careers.

One commonly used statistical rule of thumb is that a player's batting average (the higher the better) should be greater than his bowling average (the lower the better). In Test cricket, only three all-rounders have batting averages that are 20 greater than their bowling average over their entire careers: Garfield Sobers, Jacques Kallis and Walter Hammond. However, some other players have achieved such a differential over significant parts of their careers, such as Imran Khan, Steve Waugh, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson. (Michael Slater had a batting average of 42.8 and a bowling average of 10.0, but cases such as his are usually excluded by specifying a minimum number of matches, runs or wickets; Slater took only one wicket for a total of ten runs in his entire test career.) Doug Walters almost achieved the 20-run average differential with a batting average of 48.26 and a bowling average of 29.08, however he was generally regarded as an occasional bowler who could break partnerships rather than a genuine all-rounder.

In overall first-class cricket, there are several players with significantly higher batting averages. Statistically, few can challenge Frank Woolley who had a batting average of 40.77 and a bowling average of 19.87. Woolley took over 2000 wickets in his career, scored more runs than anyone except Jack Hobbs and is the only non-wicketkeeper to have taken more than 1000 catches.

Fielding prowess is another important consideration when assessing a player's all-round ability. Besides Woolley, other great fielders who are termed all-rounders include W G Grace, Walter Hammond, Paul Collingwood and Gary Sobers. They were all very athletic fields and safe catchers.

Essentially, an all-rounder is better at bowling than batting or vice-versa. Very few are equally good at both and hardly any have been outstanding at both. Thus the terms "bowling all-rounder" and "batting all-rounder" have come into use. For example, in Test cricket, Keith Miller had a good batting average of 36.97 (but a higher first class average of 48.90) and an outstanding bowling average of 22.97, so he would be termed a bowling all-rounder. Conversely, Gary Sobers had an outstanding batting average of 57.78 and a good bowling average of 34.03, so he would be termed a batting all-rounder. The ideal of the genuine all-rounder is Imran Khan who had averages of 37 (batting) and 23 (bowling), which is very good as a batsman and outstanding as a bowler.

Sobers has been hailed as the "greatest-ever all-rounder" though, as the figures show, even he was much better at one discipline than the other. He was primarily described as a great batsman and a very good bowler. His distinctive capability was that he was able to bowl medium fast seam as well as wrist spin, having originally entered the West Indies team as a finger spinner. 90 out of 100 judges in the Wisden Cricketers of the Century award chose Sobers in their five selections.

An all-rounder who missed out on Test Cricket due to the apartheid era of the 1970s and 1980s was the South African Clive Rice. His first-class batting average was 40.95 and his bowling average was 22.49. Another outstanding South African all-rounder was Mike Procter who played only seven tests for the same reason, taking 41 wickets at an average of 15.02. His batting averages were 25.11 in tests and 36.01 in first-class cricket, and he scored 48 first-class centuries in 401 matches including an equal-record six in consecutive innings.