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Who is the greatest Test cricket all-rounder?

1st December, 2016
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South African cricketing great Jacques Kallis was the last great all-rounder. (Image: AAP/Dave Hunt)
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1st December, 2016
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That was the question I was asked two days ago, and my immediate reaction was Garfield Sobers or Jacques Kallis, with a soft spot for Keith Miller, Richie Benaud, and Alan Davidson.

I had played a social game at the SCG in 1960 with Miller four years after he retired, and it was an eye-opener as to his incredible ability. I played first grade in Sydney for years against Benaud (Cumberland), who was captain when I first captained Mosman, and Davidson with Western Suburbs to see at first hand their superb all-round capabilities.

So I settled on a 15-man squad in alphabetical order to answer the question – Wasim Akram, Ravi Ashwin, Benaud, Ian Botham, Davidson, Kapil Dev, Andrew Flintoff, Richard Hadlee, Mitchell Johnson, Imran Khan, Kallis, Miller, Shaun Pollock, Sobers, and Daniel Vettori.

Davidson created history at the first tied Test at the Gabba in December 1960 when he emerged as the first all-rounder to score 100 runs and take ten wickets in a Test.

The leftie scored 44 and 80 for 124 and captured 5-135 and 6-87 for 11-222 in what’s arguably the greatest Test ever played with both sides scoring 737 runs in the four digs.

Benaud and Frank Worrell were the captains and they set the high standard for a memorable series won 2-1 by Australia.

In another bit of criteria, only eight all-rounders have scored 500 Test runs and taken 50 Test wickets in a calendar year.

Botham did it twice – 1978 with 597 at 39.8 and 66 wickets at 18.19 and in 1981 with 629 runs at 28.59 and 62 wickets at 25.54.

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Dev also recorded the feat twice – 1979 with 619 runs at 30.95 and 74 wickets at 22.95 and again in 1983 with 579 runs and 22.26 and 75 wickets at 22.95.

Pollock joined them with 593 runs at 29.65 and 69 wickets at 20.44 in 1998 and 573 runs at 52.09 and 55 wickets in 2001 at 21.38.

Flintoff scored the double in 2005 with 709 runs at 30.82 and 68 wickets at 24.41, while Vettori’s double was in 2008 with 672 runs at 35.36, and 54 wickets at 26.12

Johnson’s double was in 2009 with 500 runs at 33.33,and 63 wickets at 27.42, with Ashwin the latest to join the list this year with 545 at 48.70, and 59 at 22.83.

None of those stats are conclusive, so lets go head-to-head on career averages, starting with the bat.

1 – Sobers (93 Tests) – 8032 runs at 57.78.
2 – Kallis (166) – 13289 at 55.37.
3 – Miller (55) – 2958 at 36.97.
4 – Ashwin (42) – 1749 at 34.96
5 – Botham (102) – 5200 at 34.03,
6 – Pollock (105) – 3781 at 32.31,
7 – Flintoff (79) – 3845 at 31.77
8 – Dev (131) – 5248 at 31.05
9 – Vettori (113) – 4531 at 30.00
10 – Imran(88) – 3897 at 27.69.
11 – Hadlee (86) – 3124 at 27.16
12 – Davidson (44) – 1328 at 24.58
13 – Benaud (63) – 2201 at 24.45
14 – Johnson (73) – 2065 at 22.20
15 – Akram (104) – 2898 at 22.64.

With the ball:

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1 – Davidson (44) – 186 wickets at 20.53.
2 – Hadlee (86) – 431 at 22.59.
3 – Imran (88) – 362 at 22.81.
4 – Miller (45) – 170 at 22.97.
5 – Pollock (108) – 423 at 23.11.
6 – Akram (104) – 414 at 23.62.
7 – Ashwin (42) – 235 at 24.75.
8 – Benaud (63) -248 at 27.03.
9 – Botham(102) – 383 at 28.40.
9 – Johnson (73) – 313 at 28.40
11 – Dev (131) – 434 at 29.04
12 – Kallis (166) – 292 at 32.65
13 – Flintoff (74) – 226 at 32.78
14 – Sobers (93) – 235 at 34.03
15 – Vettori (113) – 362 at 34,36,

Let the cold hard stats give us the answer to the greatest all-rounder question in history.

Using their standings in the top 15 contenders with bat and ball and calling them points, lowest is tops.

24 points – Daniel Vettori (9 batting points, 15 bowling).
23 – Mitchell Johnson.
21 – Richie Benaud and Wasim Akram.
20 – Andrew Flintoff.
19 – Kapil Dev.
15 – Garfield Sobers.
14 – Ian Botham, Jacques Kallis.
13 – Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, and Alan Davidson.
11 – Ravi Ashwin, and Shaun Pollock.
7 – Keith Miller.

And there you have the debonair Keith Miller as the greatest Test all-rounder on the evidence of cold statistical facts.

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