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Rank the 4 great all rounders of the 1980s from best to worst

Who is the best of the 4 ?


  • Total voters
    61

Fusion

Global Moderator
We've gone through many such all-rounder threads before, but here's my list again:

Imran
Botham
Kapil
Hadlee
 

Burgey

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Imran

Botham
Some margin
Kapil
Some margin
Hadlee

Hadlee arguably the greatest bowler but imo his batting was significantly behind the other three.
 
Botham was probably the biggest match winner of the 4 in question. He performed with bat and ball in the same match many times. Hadlee was definitely the best bowler of the 4 though.
 

Fusion

Global Moderator
Botham was probably the biggest match winner of the 4 in question. He performed with bat and ball in the same match many times. Hadlee was definitely the best bowler of the 4 though.
At his peak, Botham probably was the best AR. However, that peak was not long enough IMO to place him above Imran. We're sure to get the inevitable rebuttal that Imran “never performed with the bat and the ball at the same time”. I don’t buy that argument though, as in his last 51 Tests he averaged 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball.
 
Imran very rarely performed with bat and ball at the same time. I think you will find that Botham took a 5 wicket haul and scored a 100 in the same match more times than Imran. I am not even sure if Imran has achieved that feat.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Imran
Hadlee
Botham
Dev

Hadlee's bowling superiority more than makes up for his batting deficiency compared to the others.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
Think Both was possibly the most lavishly gifted of the four, but it's safe to say maybe he didn't always work as hard at his cricket as he might've.

Imran's longeivity and captaincy give him the edge, IMHO.

Imran
Botham
Kapil
Hadlee

Agree with The Burgster about Paddles; the best bowler of the bunch, but the only one of the four whose batting would (probably) never have got him selected on its own at any point of his career.
 

JBH001

International Regular
Imran very rarely performed with bat and ball at the same time. I think you will find that Botham took a 5 wicket haul and scored a 100 in the same match more times than Imran. I am not even sure if Imran has achieved that feat.
Imran did take a 10 fer and score a hundred in the same match once. As did Botham. I dont think, however, that he took a 5 fer and scored a hundred in the same game (apart from the one mentioned earlier) while Botham did it 4 times. Botham also, from recollection, scored a 50 and took a 5 fer in the same game 8 times. I dont know how many times Imran did this - although I would be surprised if he hadnt done it at least once.

Edit/ My list is Imran, Botham, Kapil, Hadlee.
 

Burgey

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Not disparaging Sir Richard by any stretch, but his batting was nowhere near the other three. IMO when we're discussing allround performances, that counts for plenty.

Hadlee could certainly bat, he was a better batsman than say a Mitchell Johnson, but he was closer in standard to Johnson than he was to any of the other three listed here when it came to batting.
 

Uppercut

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Could say something similar about Kapil's bowling tbf.

For me it's Imran, Hadlee, Botham, Kapil. The first two are nailed on, the second two are interchangeable. I'm never sure how to rate Botham really.
 

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