How good could the the great all-rounders have been if they focused on one discipline?

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Stokes has been a batting all-rounder for most of his career, then after injury problems he couldn’t bowl, but now after being put back together with some left over sellotape he’s now bowling as well as he ever has, which has got me thinking, how good could he have been as a pure batter or a pure bowler? How good could all the other great all-rounders of the past been if they had specialised?

 

[Thala_0710]

My opinion is that for most all rounders, I don't think they could have improved massively in their primary skill even if they let their secondary skill go. I don't think Kallis would have been a much better bat, or Jadeja, Pollock, Hadlee etc would have been much better bowlers even if they had just focused solely on their primary.
However they all would be a lot better in their secondary skills imo. The fab 4 ARs of the 80s could have all been test class batsmen imo if they solely focused on it. Same for Jadeja. Kallis could have been better as well, a top frontline bowler imo.

 

[sayon basak]

Ben Stokes is already the best bowler in his team, nothing more to improve.

 

[Molehill]

Ben Stokes is already the best bowler in his team, nothing more to improve.

Yeah, but in the process he's become the 7th best batsman.

 

[sayon basak]

Yeah, but in the process he's become the 7th best batsman.

Good for a secondary discipline.

 

[Coronis]

My opinion is that for most all rounders, I don't think they could have improved massively in their primary skill even if they let their secondary skill go. I don't think Kallis would have been a much better bat, or Jadeja, Pollock, Hadlee etc would have been much better bowlers even if they had just focused solely on their primary.
However they all would be a lot better in their secondary skills imo. The fab 4 ARs of the 80s could have all been test class batsmen imo if they solely focused on it. Same for Jadeja. Kallis could have been better as well, a top frontline bowler imo.

Agreed. The secondary discipline is the one with the much higher room for growth if focused on.

The main one I think may have been an exception to this was Miller, considering his FC average (I know Shield pitches were flat, but still) and much lower bowling load there. (He bowled almost twice as much in tests as he did in non test FC matches)

 

[Bolo.]

My opinion is that for most all rounders, I don't think they could have improved massively in their primary skill even if they let their secondary skill go. I don't think Kallis would have been a much better bat, or Jadeja, Pollock, Hadlee etc would have been much better bowlers even if they had just focused solely on their primary.
However they all would be a lot better in their secondary skills imo. The fab 4 ARs of the 80s could have all been test class batsmen imo if they solely focused on it. Same for Jadeja. Kallis could have been better as well, a top frontline bowler imo.

Sounds right. One thing that might have impacted the quality of their primary is workload. Just getting tired. I'm not sure how much impact workload actually had on primary though.