World-class cricketers are worth their weight in gold at international level and over the years many have graced the game, among them legends like India’s Kapil Dev, Pakistan’s Imran Khan and Sir Richard Hadlee from New Zealand but who are England’s greatest ever all-rounders? Here are five of the very best.
England Cricket’s 5 Greatest Ever All-Rounders
Greatest Ever All-Rounders: Ian Botham (1976-1992)
Any list has to start with Ian Botham, one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game. In 102 Tests for England he scored over 5,000 runs and took 383 wickets and all achieved with a power and a swagger which made him one of the great box-office sporting icons of his generation. Known to all as ‘Beefy’, his finest hour came in the 1981 Ashes where he lost the captaincy and the first Test and then produced a series of breathtaking displays with bat and ball to turn the series on its head.
Greatest Ever All-Rounders: Andrew Flintoff (1998-2009)
Botham’s heroics inspired many to try to emulate him. Few came close, though ‘Freddie’ Flintoff came closest. Like Beefy, Flintoff was a hard-hitting batter, but he was a faster, more aggressive bowler, who took 226 wickets in his 79 Test appearances, to go alongside 3,845 runs. Only two Englishmen – Kevin Pietersen and Ben Stokes – have hit more sixes in the Test arena than Flintoff, who was also an invaluable asset for his country in the growing one-day game.
Greatest Ever All-Rounders: Ben Stokes (2011-present)
Completing the trio of hard-hitting, pace-bowling all-rounders, is Ben Stokes, the most recent arrival in any Hall of Fame. If Botham blazed the trail then Stokes took it to a different level, especially in the one-day international area. The birth of T20 cricket to go alongside an endless diet of 50-over cricket played to Stokes’ strengths. No one has hit more one-day sixes for England than Stokes, who has repeated the feat in the Test arena as well. With 6,719 runs and counting and 210 wickets, he is only the second cricketer after Botham to have over 4,000 runs and over 100 wickets in Tests for England.
Greatest Ever All-Rounders: Trevor Bailey (1949-1959)
In terms of pure entertainment, Beefy, Freddie and Stokes have taken the art of the all-rounder to a new level. But others preceded them and are well worthy of note, among them Tony Greig and Trevor Bailey. Bailey was a right-arm medium-fast bowler of some repute who took 132 wickets in his 61 matches. But at the crease with bat in hand he was an obdurate batsman, nicknamed Barnacle, whose batting feats were once mischievously described as being more for the benefit of his team than the pleasure of the crowd. He scored 2,290 runs.
Greatest Ever All-Rounders: Stuart Broad (2007-2023)
In terms of pure numbers it’s surely impossible to ignore Stuart Broad, even though he was definitely a bowler who could bat a bit rather than a bona fide all-rounder. His 604 wickets speak for themself. Only four men have taken more. But while generally a No.9 or No.10 in the order, he also racked up 3,662 runs with a highest score of 169.
By Alex Jack
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