All-rounder-heavy Test teams

[morgieb]

its looks great but half of them were probably too old (though Miller took a 10fa at Lords that Ashes) and the other half just a little too green. None really at their prime for that series.

Yeah Miller and Lindwall being 10 years older than Davidson and Benaud isn't ideal. Still terrific on paper though.

 

[Red]

its looks great but half of them were probably too old (though Miller took a 10fa at Lords that Ashes) and the other half just a little too green. None really at their prime for that series.

Sure, but the thread isn't "All-rounders in their prime playing together in one team". It's "all rounder heavy test teams".

 

[the big bambino]

Sure is. I was just commenting on the combination.

 

[trundler]

Wasn't Rhodes not much of a batsman when he batted 11? IIRC he was more of a bat or bowl all rounder.

 

[jimmy101]

Wasn't Rhodes not much of a batsman when he batted 11? IIRC he was more of a bat or bowl all rounder.

Apparently he started out as a pace bowler in his youth before switching to spin. So he may very well have spent the majority of his time at that point practising spin bowling, and less time batting.

Tbh I think Wilf batting at #11 was a bit of an Ashton Agar situation. He was never an outright bunny with the bat in hand.

 

[mr_mister]

It feels like every Aussie in the team in the late 90s could at least bowl a few overs in ODIs

Bevan, Lehmann, Ponting and the Waughs all got the ball thrown to them from time to time

 

[honestbharani]

Martyn too. The only ones who did not bowl were the openers or the top 3, I think. Ponting bowled much lesser though. Won't lump him with Bevan, Lehmann or the Waughs.

India in the Sydney test in 2004 had a decent line up of batsmen who can bowl and bowlers who can bat. From memory, think the side was:


Sehwag #
Akash Chopra
Dravid
Sachin #
Laxman
Ganguly #
Parthiv (wk)
Agarkar #
Pathan #
Kumble #
Murali Kartik #


All of them can bat and we had like 7 bowling options.

 

[jimmy101]

It feels like every Aussie in the team in the late 90s could at least bowl a few overs in ODIs

Bevan, Lehmann, Ponting and the Waughs all got the ball thrown to them from time to time

Channel 9 used to convince us they were all-rounders too with their little bat & ball graphics.

 

[Dendarii]

There have been four instances of all eleven players bowling, although obviously they wouldn't all be classified as all-rounders.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17710/scorecard/62411/england-vs-australia-3rd-test-australia-tour-of-england-1884

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17056/scorecard/63264/pakistan-vs-australia-2nd-test-australia-tour-of-pakistan-1979-80

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15374/scorecard/63987/west-indies-vs-india-4th-test-india-tour-of-west-indies-2002

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/14855/scorecard/208321/west-indies-vs-south-africa-4th-test-south-africa-tour-of-west-indies-2005

 

[ankitj]

Martyn too. The only ones who did not bowl were the openers or the top 3, I think. Ponting bowled much lesser though. Won't lump him with Bevan, Lehmann or the Waughs.

India in the Sydney test in 2004 had a decent line up of batsmen who can bowl and bowlers who can bat. From memory, think the side was:


Sehwag #
Akash Chopra
Dravid
Sachin #
Laxman
Ganguly #
Parthiv (wk)
Agarkar #
Pathan #
Kumble #
Murali Kartik #


All of them can bat and we had like 7 bowling options.

As Agarkar demonstrated emphatically.

 

[honestbharani]

Hey, he was not the Bombay Duck in that series.

 

[a massive zebra]

Apparently he started out as a pace bowler in his youth before switching to spin. So he may very well have spent the majority of his time at that point practising spin bowling, and less time batting.

Tbh I think Wilf batting at #11 was a bit of an Ashton Agar situation. He was never an outright bunny with the bat in hand.

Yeah Rhodes was Jack Hobbs regular opening partner for England for several years before WWI. I dont think it is possible for someone ultimately capable of regularly opening in Tests to ever have been a complete bunny.

 

[ankitj]

Hey, he was not the Bombay Duck in that series.

Oh OK.

 

[honestbharani]

Also, 100 at Lords.. never forget.

 

[Bahseph]

Probably giving away my age here but I've been watching some old SA test match highlights on YouTube during the Coronavirus lockdown. I started really following cricket in 2005/2006 so I never got to see those SA teams with the crazy lineups. Watched some highlights of SA in India in 2000 and Boje, Kallis, Zulu and Pollock all in the same team. With some Cronje overs in as well. Never realized how thrilling it was to watch Zulu.

 

[Migara]

Sri Lanka did a similar thing in ODIs. Did they ever do it in tests also?

It was rather we had batsmen who were useful as bowlers. Jayasuriya, Ranatunga, de Silva, Dilshan, Maharoof and Mathews are some of them.

 

[Migara]

Trying to think of an equivalent for Pakistan. Perhaps Afridi, Mahmood, Mushtaq and Akram? That's pushing the all rounder label a bit.

They could have had Mahmood, Razzaq and Hafeez in the same team.

 

[AndrewB]

The India team for the Trinidad Test of April 4-9 1962 all ended their Test careers with batting averages over 25.
Despite this, they lost the series 5-0.

The Australian team for the first Test after WW1 (Sydney, Dec 1920) had 9 players who ended their careers with batting averages of 35+. (In contrast to the India team, they won the series 5-0).

The WI team at Nottingham in 1957 had more players who were at least competent Test bowlers than most: as well as Gilchrist, Ramadhin and Valentine picked basically for their bowling, they had Worrell and Sobers opening, and Collie Smith, Atkinson and Goddard batting 6-8. They all took at least 1 wicket per Test, and all but Goddard took at least 1.8. (They also had two batsmen/keepers in the side in Walcott and Kanhai).

 

[AndrewB]

Conversely, the WI team at Wellington in 1956 must have one of the weakest tails excluding teams new to Test cricket: none of their last 5 (Binns, Ramadhin, King, Dewdney, Valentine) average more than 10 (and yet they still had Sobers, Goddard, Smith and Atkinson in the team, so again had 8 competent or better bowlers in the side).

 

[AndrewB]

Trying to pin down a team with *no-one* who even comes close to being an all-rounder is a bit fiddly, but the WI team at Nottingham in 1995 looks like a fair shout:

SC Wililams, SL Campbell, BC Lara, RB Richardson, KLT Arthurton, S Chanderpaul, CO Browne, IR Bishop, R Dhanraj, KCG Benjamin, CA Walsh.

Of the top 6, only Chanderpaul took more than 1 Test wicket (9 in 164 Tests); Bishop (av 12) was the only one of the bowlers to average >10 with the bat.