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An all-rounder is a cricket player who excels at both batting and bowling. Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries Mike Powell cricketerjpg|thumb|200px| Warwickshire batsman Mike Powell]] A batsman in the sport of Cricket is depending on context Any Muralijpg|thumb|250px|right|The world's leading off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan sends down a delivery]] A bowler in the Sport of Cricket is usually Although all bowlers must bat, and most batsmen end up bowling occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines. Wicket-keepers who are also very good batsmen (such as Adam Gilchrist, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara) are considered by some to be all-rounders, but the term wicketkeeper-batsman is more commonly used to reserve the term all-rounder for the batting/bowling type. Cricket wicket keeperjpg|thumb|300px|A wicket-keeper in characteristic position ready to face a delivery Adam Craig Gilchrist (born 14 November 1971 Nicknamed Gilly or Church, is a retired Australian international Cricketer -->He Mahendra Singh Dhoni or MS Dhoni ( Hindi:महेन्द्र सिंह धोनी (born July 7 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand) is an Indian Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977 at Matale) is a Sri Lankan Cricketer He is a left-handed Batsman

Contents

Definition

There is some confusion as to the precise definition that a player needs to fit in order to be considered an all-rounder. The generally accepted criterion is that a genuine all-rounder is someone whose batting or bowling skills, considered alone, would be good enough to win them a place on the team. By this definition, true all-rounders are quite rare, and extremely valuable to a team since they effectively count as two players. More commonly, all-rounders are better at bowling than batting or vice versa. Thus the terms "bowling all-rounder" or "batting all-rounder" are used to describe such players.

One commonly used statistical rule of thumb is that the batting average of an all-rounder (the higher the better) should be greater than the bowling average (the lower the better). Batting average is a Statistic in both Cricket and Baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively Bowling average is a Statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the Sport of Cricket. For example, Imran Khan had the combined Test cricket averages of 37. Imran Khan Niazi ( عمران خان نیازی) (born November 25 1952) is a Pakistani Cricketer and politician Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations 69 with the bat and 22. 81 with the ball; likewise, Keith Miller had 36. Keith Ross Miller MBE (28 November 1919 &ndash 11 October 2004 was an Australian Test Cricketer and a World War II pilot of the Royal Australian Air Force 97 and 22. 97, and; Ian Botham had 33. Sir Ian Terence Botham, OBE (born 24 November 1955) is a former England Test Cricketer and Test team captain and current 34 and 28. 40 respectively. The need to excel in both departments complicates comparison between players, especially when they played under the differing conditions of disparate historical eras.

The issue is clouded by the many specialist batsmen and bowlers who exhibit some degree of skill in the other department. For example, the Australian bowler Brett Lee has batting ability, but is not good enough to be selected as a Test batsman in his own right. Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976 in Wollongong, New South Wales) is an Australian Cricketer Style Lee is an express bowler There is no agreement whether players in this class, including batsmen who can bowl a few useful overs such as Sachin Tendulkar, are to be considered all-rounders; the term part-timer is often used in place of all-rounder in such cases.

Further adding complexity to the definition of all-rounders is the difference between test cricket and one-day cricket. Often, a player may bowl his entire quota of ten overs, or near thereto, in most one-day matches; however, he will be bowled only sparingly in test matches, with fewer than half the overs of the main strike bowlers. This makes them all-rounders in one-day cricket, but closer to part-timers in test cricket. Players such as Sanath Jayasuriya and Andrew Symonds fit this description well. Sanath Teran Jayasuriya (born 30 June, 1969 in Matara) is a Sri Lankan Cricketer The All-rounder has been a member Andrew Symonds (born 9 June 1975 Birmingham, England is a batting all-rounder for the Australian Cricket team The hybrid term one-day all-rounder is most descriptive in this case, and such players are denoted in the list below by (ODI).

VE Walker and EM Grace

Two of the most amazing all-round feats took place within three years of each other in the 19th century.

First, VE Walker of Middlesex, playing for All-England versus Surrey at The Oval on 21, 22 & 23 July 1859, took all ten wickets in the Surrey first innings and followed this by scoring 108 in the England second innings, having been the not out batsman in the first (20*). Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic Cricket structure representing the historic county of The Oval PavilionJPG|250px|right|thumb|The Members Pavilion]] The Oval is an international Cricket ground in Kennington, London He took a further four wickets in Surrey’s second innings. All-England won by 392 runs.

Next came EM Grace on 15 August 1862. Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed He carried his bat through the entire MCC innings, scoring 192 not out of a total of 344. Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC is a private members' club founded in 1787 He then, bowling underarm, took all 10 wickets in the Kent first innings for 69 runs. In Cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself Until the appearance of the roundarm style in the first half of the 19th Century, bowling was However, this is not an official record as it was a 12-a-side game (though one of the Kent batsmen was injured).

Fielding prowess

A further confusion to all-rounder status is added when fielding is considered. Particularly in the modern game (limited overs cricket in particular) great emphasis is put on fielding skills and some exceptional fielders have been considered "all-rounders" by some, Jonty Rhodes and Paul Collingwood being prime examples. NightMatchOldTraffordjpg|right|thumb|350px|A night match at Old Trafford. Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes (born 27 July 1969) is a former South African Test and One Day International Cricketer Paul David Collingwood MBE (born 26 May 1976 is an English Cricketer He is a regular member of the England Test side and was If one is to consider all three disciplines then Frank Woolley perhaps stands alone. Frank Edward Woolley (born 27 May 1887 in Tonbridge, Kent, died 18 October 1978 in Chester, Nova Scotia He is the only player to take 1000 first class catches (excluding wicket-keepers), only Jack Hobbs has scored more first class runs and he took over 2000 wickets at an average of less than 20. Sir John Berry Hobbs ( 16 December 1882 - 21 December 1963) generally known as Jack Hobbs, played Cricket for Surrey

List of batting all-rounders

List of bowling all-rounders

List of wicketkeeper-batsmen

List of historical all-rounders

See also

References

Dictionary

all-rounder

-noun

  1. (mainly UK) A versatile person, able to do many things well; used especially in reference to being good at various sports.
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