Wicket Keeper All Rounders
The world has produced many great all rounders over the years. Some of them were primarily bowlers who could bat a bit, while some of them were genuine all rounders like Pollock, Flintoff, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev & Hadlee. Thanks to one day cricket, specialist batsman like Sachin & Richards whose primary role was to roll out a few overs or get breakthroughs, have picked up so many wickets that they too deserve to be termed as all rounders. Example of players who belong to these 3 categories are:-
Genuine All Rounders:- The likes of Flintoff, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Botham & Pollock, Daniel Vettori, Jayasurya, Chris Cairns, Chris Harris.
Bowlers who cat bat:- Richard Hadlee, Chaminda Vaas, Wasim Akram
Batsman who can bowl:- Sachin, Richards, Kallis & Astle
Now coming to a category of all rounders who are as good as Imran Khan, Flintoff & Co. if not better. They are Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Kumar Sangakkara & M S Dhoni. These batsman are specialist batsman for their teams. Gilchrist could easily be classified as the greatest Test match winner of all time while Dhoni & Sangakkara have been ranked as number one in ODIs and Test matches. Andy Fowler carried the additional burden of being his country's only world class batsman. These wicket keepers have carried more workload than any of the genuine all rounders in the world. While they have had to keep wickets for close to 2 days, another 1 1/2 day is spent while batting. These players have had to be at the peak of their concentration while batting and keeping wickets. Other all rounders for example Flintoff gets rest while he is not bowling but with wicket keepers that is not the case. They have to be focused full time either while batting or keeping wickets.
These wicket keeper batsman average around 50s in Test Matches and around 40s in Test Matches. These are the type of averages which classify great batsmen from the rest. Considering their work load and the consistency in which these wicket keepers have produced results for their team, they also should be considered as genuine all rounders. and should be ranked in all rounders category
Regards
Satish
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.