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. 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, the other two in this elite club, have long been the top contenders in the perennial “greatest all-rounder” debate. But what about the rest?
In the pre-war era there was Wilfred Rhodes - a first-class giant with 39969 runs and 4204 wickets, and impressive numbers across his 56 Test appearances. Then came Keith Miller, and later the Big Four - Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham and Kapil Dev - who were the mainstays in the final quarter of the 20th century.
Stokes’ calibre is also highlighted by the fact that only one all-rounder comes close to matching his pedigree among active cricketers. Look at this list and you’ll see that 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. The ones who do, haven’t played enough as yet.
But when it comes to determining the best all-rounder ever from a statistical perspective, how would you do it in a truly holistic manner? In this study, we aim to narrow down the top all-rounders in Test cricket history by analysing their overall performances, and how they stack up compared to their teammates and other contemporaries in either discipline.
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