Once upon a time, the measure of a quality all-rounder was somebody who had scored 1000 runs and taken 100 wickets at Test level.
Essentially, it was somebody who could single-handedly win the match by bowling the team to victory and also bringing up a big score with the willow.
Another unit of measurement is their batting average must be higher than that of their bowling.
Let’s go through some undisputed all-rounders
Jacques Kallis
Played 166 Tests for 13,289 runs at the average of 55, plus he took 292 wickets at over 32, as well as 200 Test catches.
He won countless Test matches for his country.
Sir Ian Botham
Played 102 Tests for 5200 runs at over 33, and took 383 wickets at over 28, with 120 catches.
Who could forget Headingley, where he single-handedly won the match for England despite the follow on?
Sir Richard Hadlee
A great bowling allrounder with over 3000 runs at over 27 and 431 wickets at over 22. Hadlee famously took 33 wickets over three Tests in Australia during the summer of 1985-1986.
Fast forward to now and the current top all-rounder goes to Shakib Al Hasan, who scored over 3800 runs at over 39 and taken 205 wickets at over 31.
Ravindra Jadeja of India has scored more than 1400 runs at slightly over 31 and has 190 wickets at over 23.
Ben Stokes of England has qualified with over 1000 runs and 100 wickets, and has a higher batting average than bowling. Vernon Philander is another in this category.
Jason Holder of the West Indies has currently scored over 1500 runs and taken 86 wickets.
What about Patrick Cummins? He has the grit to bat long innings, clearly values his wicket highly, and has taken nearly 80 wickets. He will qualify for all-rounder status once he plays another eight to ten Tests.
Does anyone else qualify as an all-rounder?
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