All-rounders are players without a specific specialization usually possessing skills in both batting and bowling. Their presence in the squad gets the selection of the playing XI right. Besides, they can also contribute positively in terms of runs piled onto the score or bowl the critical overs just to align the teams in defending a specific total.
A team without quality all-rounders can have only limited options in bowling and batting. Thus, the following is a list of the top ten all-rounders of all time.
Greatest All-Rounders In Cricket
10. England’s Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes, one of the best all-rounders in the world today, is the most influential player for England in all three formats. The 31 years old cricketer is a bowler and a batsman who can stand up to the best bowling lineups while also breaking and making the partnerships with bowling.
Ben Stokes has got himself the title of “Clutch Player”, which denotes a player who performs exceptionally well when the team is under pressure. He has saved the team three times: in the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final, in the 2019 Test match against Australia at Headingly, and in the 2022 T20 World Cup Final.
Read Also :- Best Umpires in Cricket History
With many years yet to be played in his international career, the current England Test captain can take his time, and make more contributions to English cricket, and on his way, he can also get his name engraved among the greatest all-rounders ever, who just never fade.
9. Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib Al Hassan, who stepped into international cricket in 2006, has been on the ICC top all-rounder list more than once. Quite a few of the cricketing times have seen him among the best players representing the Bangladeshi cricket in all three formats.
The all-rounder has been a major factor in the rise of Bangladesh from being just a lowly cricketing nation to spot them in the list of credible threats which can outsmart the top-class test-playing nations. The 2019 World Cup was a career high for Shakib as he amassed 606 runs from 8 innings hitting 2 tons and 5 fifties, while also bagging 11 wickets at an economy rate of 5.39.
8. South African Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock has been a South African cricketer since the 2000s, Coming from a country that produced great pace bowlers and all-rounders. He had a glorious career and time to break and set a lot of records like:
The most test centuries while batting at number 9 or below
The first test captain to be unbeaten on 99 in a Test inning
The most ODI wickets at home (193)
Bowling the most number of maiden overs (313) in ODI history
7. England’s Andrew Flintoff
Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff perfectly embodies the phrase “stats don’t tell the whole story.” After Sir Ian Botham, the Lancashire native was the best all-rounder in England.
From the year 2003 to 2010 he was a regular member of the English squad because of his destructive batting and ability to take wickets. The 2005 Ashes was the zenith of his career. Flintoff was named the player of the series for scoring 401 runs and taking 24 wickets.
6. India’s Kapil Dev
There comes a time when the rising young talents actually fill the shoes of the famous Indian cricket players. But still a player of Kapil Dev’s class could not be replaced.
One of India’s fittest and toughest cricketers is a Chandigarh lad. He has never missed even a single test match due to injury in his stellar career and never bowled a no-ball.
His 175 not out against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup semi-final is one of the best-ever innings in an ICC knockout game. He led a passionate Indian side to victory over the mighty West Indies, thus inspiring the future batting legend of India Sachin Tendulkar to take up cricket and win laurels for his country.
5. Pakistan’s Imran Khan
Imran Khan, very likely the best all-rounder that Pakistan could boast, came into the arena of cricket at a time when the likes of Kapil Dev, Sir Ian Botham, and Sir Richard Hadlee were still the top all-rounders of the game. He got around 37 runs and took 22 wickets on an average against the legends like Joel Garner, Michael Holding, and Jeff Thompson, and the batters like Sir Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, and Ian Chappell.
The former Prime Minister of Pakistan led his side to the World Cup victory in 1992, which was their first and only one, and that made an impact on many Pakistani cricketers who later took cricket as their profession.
4. New Zealand’s Sir Richard Hadlee
Sir Richard Hadlee, the best bowler with the new ball, to some extent, was New Zealand’s spearhead in the bowling department throughout the 70s. He had a better bowling average than the other three all-rounders – Kapil Dev, Sir Ian Botham, and Imran Khan – but at the same time had the lowest batting average.
Queen Elizabeth II made him a knight in 1990 for having broken numerous records, among which the following were prominent:
Being the first in the One Day International (ODI) world to score 1000 runs and to take 100 wickets.
Taking 9/52 against Australia with the best bowling stats for a bowler in the twentieth century.
In his career he claimed 36 five-wicket hauls, a record at the time of his retirement.
3. England’s Sir Ian Botham
Sir Ian Botham is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders England has ever had and he was the one who changed the very meaning of “all-rounder” by consistently doing well with both bat and ball. He was instrumental in England’s victory over Australia in a test match, which was the first time since 1930. Ben Stokes and Andrew Flintoff were the ones who took up his everlasting legacy.
2. South African Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis is often considered the greatest all-rounder of the current era, and his incredible figures have caused the experts to be divided on the very issue of whether he is a batting or bowling all-rounder.
He is the sole cricketer in the history of ODI and Test formats to have amassed more than 10,000 runs and at the same time, taken more than 250 wickets. Besides, he had the support of 131 catches in ODIs and 200 in Tests, which very much indicates the quality of an all-rounder.
In 2020, the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame accepted Kallis for his playing skills.
1. West Indies’ Sir Garfield Sobers
Sir Don Bradman has pointed out that Sir Garfield Sobers is like a “five-in-one cricketer.” The famous West Indian cricketer used to take turns in batting, bowling (both spin and pace) and being a reliable fielder, plus he could also do wicketkeeping in case it was required.
He was the first player in the professional game to hit six sixes and also, at one point, he held the record for the highest test score in international cricket with an unbeaten 365 against Pakistan. In fact, he was a superb bowler too, as he accounted for 235 batsmen in 93 test matches.
He was not only knighted in 1974 but also, in 2000, he was chosen as one of the five Wisden cricketers of the decade.
