Greatest Allrounder of the decade?

[Flem274*]

Probably been done before but here is a thread on who you think the greatest allrounder of the decade is.

EDIT: I was slightly biased and went for Cairns. Though Flintoff and Kallis are others I and probably everyone else rate highly if not the best.

 

[archie mac]

I tried to find the genuine AR and thought Freddy the closest

 

[nightprowler10]

Dave Mohammad.

 

[Zimdan]

Kallis by a country mile.

 

[jammay123]

when flintoff plays his best hes at the top but imo kallis is the best because of his consistant performance for sa

 

[Matt79]

Carl Hooper.

 

[iamdavid]

Well Kallis is certainly the best player on that list, but I really dont know whether you'd call him a true allrounder these days, bowling has been roobish for several years.

I went for Flintoff, because fit and firing he's just about the most valuable player on the planet as he showed in 05, and just because I like him .

 

[Malleeboy]

Hmm Test, ODI or World Cup matches.

Test: Kallis
ODI: Symonds
To throw in a real outlandish suggestion...
World Cup matches in last decade: Hogg (sure he can't play Test cricket and his ODI has been erratic but in the last two world cups he has been the all rounder of the tounaments!)

 

[Jono]

Decade as in from 2000 onwards I assume?

Kallis overall IMO.

 

[Perm]

Since Test cricket>ODI and Twenty20 I think we can count out the following names
Lance Klusener
Andrew Symonds
Chris Gayle
Shahid Afridi
Abdul Razzaq
Shane Watson

Carl Hooper isn't good enough to make the cut due to his bowling and I don't think Jacques Kallis is a 'true' all-rounder anymore and hasn't been for a few years now. Heath Streak and Shaun Pollock are both primarily fast bowlers and I wouldn't class them (particularly streak) as 'true' all-rounders, although Pollock comes close.

Predictably it comes down to Chris Cairns and Andrew Flintoff in which Cairns has the better of Flintoff in both departments when it comes to statistics. As a whole I think Cairns>Flintoff but performing at their respective peaks Flintoff would take it. Voting for Cairns.

 

[iamdavid]

World Cup matches in last decade: Hogg (sure he can't play Test cricket and his ODI has been erratic but in the last two world cups he has been the all rounder of the tounaments!)

You could argue his name for bowler of the tournament, but off the top of my head I cant actually remember him making any runs in WC matches

 

[Perm]

Also, disappointed not to see Sanath Jayasuriya not on the list. He would be in the running for the best ODI all-rounder of all time and his Test record is pretty impressive.

 

[Athlai]

Went for Cairns, match winner in both forms and thats what I consider a real all rounder to be, Flintoff in his prime would be up there too, I've never rated Kallis's bowling that highly, definitely handy but IMO he isn't a wicket taker. I do realise my bias in the Cairns selection but as he is one of my all time favourite players for his contribution to NZ cricket.

The likes of Gayle and Symonds I would consider for ODI allrounder of the decade but I went for the longer form selection (and Cairns is hardly a slug at the shorter form).

 

[Burgey]

I gather from the names in the poll that we're exlcuding batsmen/keepers from the list? If they were in, Gilly, Sanga & Flower would be up there.

Of those quoted, have to say Kallis, as it's a decade long issue. Flintoff's 05 was best all round performance I've seen in years, but he hasn't hit the dizzy heights again through injury & bad form with the bat.

In fact, if he keeps batting as he has of late in tests, he risks becoming a handy lower order player rather than the potentially dominating middle order player he was 2 or 3 years ago.

 

[Perm]

You could argue his name for bowler of the tournament, but off the top of my head I cant actually remember him making any runs in WC matches

Scored 42 runs @ 8.40 in 2003 and 45 unbeaten runs in 2007. Hardly enough to say he has been the 'all-rounder' of the tournament.

 

[adharcric]

Irfan Pathan.

 

[honestbharani]

Irfan Pathan.

NO WAY IN HELL.




It is obviously the greatest cricketer of all time, our beloved AA.

 

[Athlai]

Kallis running wild with the votes so far, Pollock with none is a little surprising.

 

[gettingbetter]

For those who don't vote Kallis, with some reasoning, stating that he is not an 'all-rounder', which is fair enough. But if he is not an all-rounder, is he a batter who can bowl or is there another category?

'Batter who can bowl better than others but not as good as genuine bowlers?'

My choices:

Tests: Kallis
ODIs: Klusener

 

[Perm]

For those who don't vote Kallis, with some reasoning, stating that he is not an 'all-rounder', which is fair enough. But if he is not an all-rounder, is he a batter who can bowl or is there another category?

'Batter who can bowl better than others but not as good as genuine bowlers?'

Well for a start, he is a batsman, not a batter. Secondly, his bowling hasn't been good enough for a few years now and his wickets against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe really skew his statistics. People could look at his bowling average (31.72) and think "Yeah, that's decent" but really, once you take away his performances against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh it backs up the point that Kallis' bowling isn't really that good, with an average of 34.35. Fact is, since 2003 his bowling has been substandard, infact his two worst years with the ball (2004 and 2005) have been his two most productive with the bat, hardly a coincidence IMO. It means he can't really be considered a genuine all-rounder, as his bowling has become less and less effective as of late. So yes, he does fit into the "batsman that can bowl" category, much like a Nathan Astle or Scott Styris.