Cricbuzz numbers race crowns Kallis in Test all-rounder study as Stokes joins 7,000-200 club
Cricbuzz launches statistical shortlist for Test all-rounder debate
Cricbuzz has opened a two-part analysis of the greatest Test all-rounder with a numbers-driven shortlist built around overall performances and how players stack up against teammates and contemporaries.
The study is framed around Ben Stokes’ recent international exit. "When Ben Stokes called time on his international career in June, it was hailed in some quarters as the final act by one of the greatest all-rounders of all time," the report notes. "Such weighty claims did not seem entirely unreasonable. After all, Stokes is one of only three cricketers with a giant double of 7000 runs and 200 wickets in nearly 150 years of Test cricket."
Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis are the other two in the 7,000 runs-200 wickets club and remain the top contenders in the perennial greatest all-rounder debate.
Pre-war giants and the Big Four
The piece traces the lineage of all-round greatness from Wilfred Rhodes - "a first-class giant with 39969 runs and 4204 wickets, and impressive numbers across his 56 Test appearances" - through Keith Miller to the late-20th century Big Four of Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev.
Among active players, the report points to Ravindra Jadeja, who "turns 38 in December, tops the Test all-rounders rankings currently, and not many in that top 15 would match the definition of a genuine one."
How the shortlist is built
To narrow the field, Cricbuzz starts with a cut-off of a double of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests. 36 players have achieved this to date.
Six are eliminated for longevity in a secondary discipline only: Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Stuart Broad, Harbhajan Singh and Tim Southee for batting averages under 20, and Carl Hooper as the only one with a 45-plus bowling average. That leaves 30.
The filter is contextualised with benchmarks: the batting average for No.8 across 2,634 Tests is 21.2, and the sixth bowler averages 43.6. The article notes notable omissions such as South Africa’s Aubrey Faulkner and Australia’s Monty Noble and Warwick Armstrong, who "had stellar all-round numbers, but narrowly missed the above cut-off", plus Mushtaq Mohammad, Lance Klusener and Brian McMillan due to shorter career spans.
Percentile methodology
Ranking is done via percentiles on various parameters and combinations. Volume is measured against all 3,281 Test cricketers to date.
Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) and Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets) top the respective charts. Kallis, fourth-highest run-scorer in Tests with a percentile of 83.47 and 292 wickets (percentile 36.5), tops the overall volume list with a mean percentile of 59.99, granting him a perfect score of 100.
Among the nominated 30, Ravichandran Ashwin ranks second for volume largely on 537 wickets with a percentile score of 74.29. The next four are Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Sobers and Stokes. Keith Miller falls behind on volume, ranked 24th.
For batting and bowling impact the cut-off remains 2,000 runs and 100 wickets. A total of 349 players have 2,000+ runs, 206 have 100+ wickets. Bradman remains the batting average benchmark at 99.94 percentile, with Sobers and Kallis occupying the top two among all-rounders. George Lohmann leads bowling average percentile at 10.75.
Richard Hadlee, with the best average among the shortlisted players at 22.29, ranks 22nd with a percentile of 70.16, while Imran Khan (22.81) ranks 27th (68.83). The study also examines the percentage of runs scored and wickets taken compared to teammates as an indicator of overall impact for the team.
Further explanation, insights and answers to questions raised by the data are promised in Part Two.