An all-rounder is a
cricket player who excels at both
batting and
bowling. Although all bowlers must bat, and most batsmen end up
bowling occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the
two disciplines.
Wicket-keepers who are also very good batsmen (such as
Adam Gilchrist) are considered by some to be all-rounders.
Definition
There is some confusion as to the precise definition that a player needs to
fit in order to be considered an all-rounder. 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 on the team. By this
definition, true all-rounders are quite rare, and extremely valuable to a team
since they effectively count as two players.
One commonly used statistical rule of thumb is that the
batting average of an all-rounder (the higher the better) should be greater
than the
bowling average (the lower the better). The need to excel in both
departments complicates comparison between players, especially when they played
under the differing conditions of disparate historical eras. For example,
Imran Khan
had the exceptional combined
Test
cricket averages of 37.69 with the bat and 22.81 with the ball; by
comparison
Keith
Miller had 36.97 and 22.97 and;
Ian Botham
had 33.34 and 28.40 respectively.
The issue is clouded by the many specialist batsmen and bowlers who exhibit
some degree of skill in the other department. For example, the Australian
bowlers Brett
Lee and
Shane
Warne are good batsmen, but not quite good enough to be selected as a Test
batsman in their own right. Debate continues as to whether players in this
class, including batsmen who can bowl a few useful overs such as
Sachin Tendulkar, are to be considered all-rounders.
VE Walker
and EM Grace
Two of the most amazing all-round feats took place within three years of each
other in the 19th century.
First, VE Walker of Middlesex, playing for All-England versus
Surrey
at The Oval
on 21, 22 & 23 July 1859, took all ten wickets in the Surrey first innings and
followed by scoring 108 in the England second innings, having been the not out
batsman in the first (20*). He took a further four wickets in Surrey’s second
innings. All-England won by 392 runs.
Next came EM Grace on
15 August
1862. He carried his bat through the entire
MCC innings, scoring 192 not out of a total of 344. He then took all 10
wickets in the Kent first innings for 69 runs. However, this is not an official
record as it was a 12-man game. In addition, one of the Kent batsmen was missing
and he bowled
underarm.
Fielding prowess
A further confusion to all-rounder status is added when fielding is
considered. Particularly in the modern game great emphasis is put on fielding
skills and some exceptional fielders have been considered "all-rounders" by
some,
Jonty Rhodes being a prime example. If one is to consider all three
disciplines then
Frank
Woolley perhaps stands alone. He is the only player to take 1000 first class
catches (excluding wicket-keepers), only
Jack Hobbs
has scored more first class runs and he took over 2000 wickets at an average of
less than 20.
Wiki Source
