Ranking the 10 best all-rounders in Test cricket

Master of one or a jack of all? Which path should an individual choose to prosper? Well, this question haunts every person on this planet at some or the other point, not just the sporting world. It ain’t easy to work yourself up the ladder while juggling balls in your hands and balancing a bamboo stick on your head. But isn’t that doable? Tough, yes. Impossible, no.

The game of cricket was lucky to see some outstanding all-rounders right from the outset. They stood an inspiration to all those who would’ve wanted to walk on the “Jack of all” path, having conquered the world of cricket with their 360-degree contribution. They bring about a balance in the side which allows the captain to play an extra seamer or batsman and no great side in cricket has worked its way up without a top-class all-rounder.

Well, the all-rounders we will talk about in this list are neither master of one or jack of all, quite a few of them qualify as master of all as well.

Here’s how we rank the 10 best all-rounders in Test cricket history:

10. Richie Benaud

The man whose voice mesmerized the cricketing universe for so long, Richie Benaud was much more than a commentator. Rated as the second greatest cricketing personality in Australian history after Sir Donald Bradman, Benaud’s contribution to the game as a cricketer, captain, commentator and analyst can never be put into words. Born in Sydney on 6th October 1930, Benaud made his debut in 1952 against one of his favourite opponents, the West Indies.

By a country mile, he was the best legspinner in the world during the 50s and 60s. His consistent performances with the ball, also some great knocks with the willow coming in at number 5 and 6 impressed everyone and the legend has it that Australia’s then selector “The Don” himself wanted Benaud to be the captain in 1959. He led the side to a 4-0 Ashes triumph a few months later, where he produced a memorable all-round show of 132 runs and 31 wickets in 5 Tests.

In the 28 Tests he led Australia, they lost just four times, winning 12 of them. He was the captain of the team when cricket witnessed the first-ever tie in international cricket. 64 Test caps, 2,201 runs with the bat, 248 wickets with his leg-breaks – Benaud walks his way with a resounding ovation into this list.

9. Shaun Pollock

It is easy to marshal troops when there are no obstacles, but for Shaun Pollock, there were just way too many. The legendary fast bowler was named captain after the spot-fixing saga saw Hanse Cronje step down and in what was the most precarious of phases for Proteas cricket, Pollock stood tall and led by example.

That one story is one of the many reasons why he is a part of this list today, besides his immaculate ability to trouble batsmen with his seam bowling. Although his batting skills weren’t the most impressive, he did produce results whenever he was in the middle. His unmatched mental strength made him do quite literally anything on the pitch and his stats speak for him.

His bowling partnerships with Makhaya Ntini and Alan Donald mesmerized the cricket-watching universe and scared quite a few teams to death. He finished as the highest wicket-taker in South African Test history, with 421 wickets to his name. With the willow, he smashed 3,781 runs at an average of 32.31, which includes two centuries.

8. Andrew Flintoff

One can only wonder what Andrew Flintoff could’ve achieved if not for those injuries. A cricketer who stepped up when it mattered the most for England, Andrew Flintoff was nick-named “Mr Ashes” and this title is perhaps the greatest thing he is going to win in his career. An important member of Michael Vaughan and Ducan Fletcher’s transformational Test unit, Flintoff was his captain’s go-to man in critical situations.

Having made his debut in 1997, Flintoff took some time to settle into the side and once he did, only injuries could keep him aside. Among many outrageous performances that he produced for the Three Lions, none match up to Freddie show in the 2005 Ashes. He scored 402 runs and picked up 24 wickets with the cherry, which left the panel no choice but to award him the player of the series award.

Flintoff played his last Test when he was just 31 and called time on his career, with his injuries not letting him live peacefully. In a career that spanned just over a decade, he picked up 226 wickets and amassed 3845 runs in Test cricket and who knows how far that tally would’ve gone had he been around for another five years.

7. Wally Hammond

A name not very familiar with the cricketing audience of this generation, it is highly imperative that the greatness of Walter Reginald Hammond AKA Wally Hammond is communicated. In his obituary, Wisden rated him as one of the four greatest batsmen of the century, which includes Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Gary Sobers. Right after the retirement of Sir Jack Hobbs, the gritty Wally Hammond became England’s rock in their batting lineup.

He held multiple records to his name, which includes being the highest run-scorer in Tests until Colin Cowdrey surpassed him five years after his passing. His 336 against Australia was the highest individual score in Test cricket before Leonard Hutton registered cricket’s first-ever 350. Also, his tally of 22 Test hundreds for England remained untouched till Alastair Cook took over in 2012, 65 years after his retirement.

He was a potent medium-fast bowler who chipped in with wickets at regular intervals but most importantly, he England’s most important batsman of the 30s and 40s and scored 7,249 runs in 85 Tests at a staggering average of 58.45. He also had 83 wickets to his credit in the same time period but many believe he under-achieved as a bowler, considering a fact that he had over 800 FC wickets to his credit.

6. Sir Ian Botham

The poster boy of English cricket back in the 70s and 80s, Sir Ian Botham was not just larger than life, for a few, he was bigger than the game as well. Having made his debut in 1973, Botham hung around for the next two decades and saw many phases in English cricket unfold. He became the first male cricketer in Tests to have done the double of 10 wickets and a hundred in the same match.

For a very brief period, Botham was the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, before he was overtaken by one of his finest rivals– Richard Hadlee. Who can ever forget his exploits in the 1981 Ashes, when he spanked 399 runs with the bat and picked up a staggering 34 wickets, which made the world call it the “Botham’s Ashes”. He was also well praised for his courage to the field in the toughest of positions as the man was up for any challenge that came his way.

In a career as glittering as his, statistics are bound to appear pretty beautiful and they do. In 102 Test matches for the Three Lions, Ian Botham contributed 5200 runs, which includes 14 centuries (Most among the fab Four all-rounders). He finished his wickets tally with 383, over-taking Aussie legend Dennis Lillee.

5. Sir Richard Hadlee

Richard was not the only Hadlee to have played international cricket for New Zealand but he was easily the best the family produced, if not the country. Having made his debut in 1973, his pace took many by surprise as the red cherry fizzed past batsmen making a scary sound near their ears. His outswinger left the best in the business smash their heads and he was always determined to contribute with the bat.

The 70s and 80s witnessed four of the greatest all-rounders of the game – Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Imran Khan, each one special in their own way. He had the best bowling average among these three other fierce competitors and the worst batting average. Termed as the original sultan of swing, experts who saw him in action rate him as the greatest ‘new ball’ bowler of the century.

Under his leadership, New Zealand registered some historic triumphs and that laid a brilliant platform for Martin Crowe to take over. He was the first cricketer to pick 400 wickets in Tests and finished with a tally of 431, which made him the highest wicket-taker in the format when he retired (later surpassed by Kapil Dev). He also scored 3,124 runs, which includes two centuries.

4. Imran Khan

It was almost befitting that Imran Khan became the first-ever cricketer to become a Prime Minister of his country. Charismatic, effervescent and irrepressible – Imran Khan was the most dominating personality Pakistani cricket ever witnessed and also the greatest. His all-round contribution will be cherished by those in the game for as long as he lives on.

His ability to move the ball at a speed that most consider “Close to unplayable” made Imran earn the spotlight. It didn’t take long for him to become the captain of the team and more often than not, he led by example. One of the greatest performances of his career came right after he came out from retirement in 1988 against the West Indies, picking 23 wickets in 3 Tests.

This performance played a crucial role in prolonging his stay in international cricket and four years later, he lifted the World Cup trophy in Melbourne. Imran Khan retired right after the World Cup in 1992 and played his last Test just a couple of months prior to that. In 88 Tests for the national side, he mustered 3,807 runs and picked up 362 wickets. His bowling average of 22.81 still remains one of the five best by any cricketer with more than 200 wickets to his credit.

3. Kapil Dev

No one expected India to do a thing in England while they boarded their flights for the World Cup in 1983. But one man remained so optimistic, he carried a bottle of champagne to celebrate a victory in the final – which seemed impossible, not for long. A chapter was written in Indian cricket history that year, without which some other major events would never have taken place and Kapil Dev was the protagonist of that story.

A country that predominantly depended on its spinners for a long time, no one expected them to produce a world-beating fast bowler, who would end up becoming the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket at one point (Overtaken by Courtney Walsh). Just as flamboyant he was as a person, it reflected beautifully when he held the willow in the middle. His four sixes to avoid follow-on against England remains the most iconic among a bunch of stellar batting renditions from the man.

Kapil Dev is the only cricketer to have done the double of 5000 runs and 400 wickets in Test cricket, a feat which seems unlikely for anyone to replicate. He registered 5,248 runs with the bat to go with 434 wickets, making his contribution to Indian as unforgettable as it is legendary.

2. Jacques Kallis

“He is the closest anyone came to Sir Gary Sobers” – Many say this is the greatest compliment Jacques Kallis can receive and there’s literally nothing to argue. A stalwart from the Proteas across all formats, Kallis’s contribution with the bat and ball helped Graeme Smith immensely to build a Test side for the ages. Once the man walked into sunset in 2013, South Africa never found an all-rounder who could fill his void.

Making his debut in 1995, Kallis started slowly but picked up pace after some fine performances against Pakistan and Australia a couple of years later. In 2003/04, he joined an elite list of cricketers who scored consecutive hundreds in five Tests, a list which included just Sir Don Bradman before him and was later joined by Mohammad Yousuf and Gautham Gambhir. Records kept tumbling as Kallis kept notching top-class performances with the bat and ball.

Adding to all this was his razor-sharp catching ability in slips, having grabbed a whopping 200 catches in his Test career. South Africa’s most-capped cricketer of all time (166 Tests), he is also the only cricketer to have done the double of 10,000 runs and 250 wickets. 13,289 runs and 292 wickets– what’s left to say? Kallis, without debate, has been the greatest allrounder of this century.

1. Sir Gary Sobers

If cricket was an exam, perhaps there was only going to be one cricketer who’d get 100 on 100 – Sir Garfield Sobers was just perfect. Tons of runs with the willow, wickets at will with the red cherry, that fielder in the side who takes up the most important positions – There was absolutely nothing he couldn’t do. Until Sachin Tendulkar popped in the picture, cricket only had two names fighting for the “Greatest of all time” tag – Sir Gary Sobers and Sir Donald Bradman.

He was a marathon man for the West Indies with the willow. The ability to stay untethered on the pitch for long durations made him a frustrating figure for the opposition. When he scored his first hundred in Test cricket against Pakistan, he ended up surpassing Leonard Hutton’s long-standing record of 364 by a run. That record stood firm for 36 long years before Brian Lara scored 375 against England in 1994.

A potent left-arm seamer, he could also bowl finger spin on occasions. His career statistics are more than enough to justify his position at the helm of these rankings. In 93 Tests for the side, he amassed 8,038 runs at an average of 57.78, which includes 26 centuries and 30 half-centuries. With the ball, he picked up 235 wickets at an average just shy of 35 and not to forget, he was the Caribbean cricketer to pluck 100 catches in the format.