Why are there no allrounders who bowl spin?

[Majin]

Well, think about it. If you look at the great all rounders from the 80's, Botham, Khan, Dev, Hadlee and the like, they all bowled pace. I can't actually think of any Allrounders who bowl spin, not any that you could warrant picking either as a bowler or a bat, but granted my knowledge of cricket is somewhat limited.

So yeah, why do you think it is that there are hardly any spinners as allrounders?

 

[Smudge]

Richie Benaud for starters...

 

[andyc]

Shane Warne

 

[steds]

Does Dave Mohammed count?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Chris Gayle in ODI cricket among the current crop. Some would say Daniel Vettori, but would he be picked as a specialist batsman? Honestly..

 

[Majin]

Richie Benaud for starters...

That one I should have known, yes. That was a stupid mistake on my part. Thanks for reminding me. B) But other than that, who else?

And pffft, I should have known someone would say Shane Warne.

 

[shaka]

Vettori's average in his last ten test innings is more than 50, so yes he would imo.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Intriguingly, on the other side of the coin, it seems to me (without doing any semblance of research, just going off instinct) that most genuine bunnies are quick bowlers. Yeah, you have your Tuffers and your Murali, but there's plenty more quickies along the lines of Walsh, McGrath, Hoggard, Harmison, Jones, Nehra, Steyn, Ntini, Edwards, Best, Lawson, Martin and Waqar.

Then, you've got your "number eights" - where spinners (Emburey, Titmus, Underwood, Giles, Warne, Vettori, Kumble, Harbhajan, Price, Herath, Bojé, Banks, Batty, White...) who can at least tell one end of a bat from the other greatly outnumber seamers who can bat (Vaas, Dion Nash, Lee, Naved-ul-Hasan, um...)

 

[Majin]

Intriguingly, on the other side of the coin, it seems to me (without doing any semblance of research, just going off instinct) that most genuine bunnies are quick bowlers. Yeah, you have your Tuffers and your Murali, but there's plenty more quickies along the lines of Walsh, McGrath, Hoggard, Harmison, Jones, Nehra, Steyn, Ntini, Edwards, Best, Lawson, Martin and Waqar.

Then, you've got your "number eights" - where spinners (Emburey, Titmus, Underwood, Giles, Warne, Vettori, Kumble, Harbhajan, Price, Herath, Bojé, Banks, Batty, White...) who can at least tell one end of a bat from the other greatly outnumber seamers who can bat (Vaas, Dion Nash, Lee, Naved-ul-Hasan, um...)

Wasim Akram could bat a bit also, right? And also doesn't Saqlain Mushtaq have a test century to his name?

You make a good point, which makes me find it even more strange that there aren't more allrounders who bowl spin.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Well, if you're talking about the "great" all-rounders, you are right that relatively few of them are spinners. There's Benaud and Mankad, certainly... and maybe Vettori will get there one day if he keeps batting like he has in the last couple of years. Beyond that though, it's relatively few. There is of course also Sobers, who could bowl both wrist and finger spin very well indeed, as well as being a seamer with the new ball. So that's three out of the top dozen or so all-rounders in history.

There are far more players though who effectively bowl part time spin, including guys who take a reasonable number of test and ODI wickets with it like Jayasuria, Gayle, Mark Waugh, Bevan, Hooper, and if you go back further there's Richards, G. Chappell, Border etc.

I think part of it is a case of spin being easy to do but difficult to master. Aside from that, I don't know. Neil also makes a good point about the quality of number 8s, where in most teams you'll see the spinner is much more reliable with the bat than the batsmen.

 

[Neil Pickup]

In most teams you'll see the spinner is much more reliable with the bat than the batsmen.

No, that's just Australia

 

[Majin]

xD pwned.

 

[Dasa]

I think part of it is a case of spin being easy to do but difficult to master. Aside from that, I don't know. Neil also makes a good point about the quality of number 8s, where in most teams you'll see the spinner is much more reliable with the bat than the batsmen.

I think most spinners are better with the bat because if you don't have assistance from the pitch (primarily finger-spin), as a spinner you're not really all that useful - so, being OK with the bat keeps them in the team...sort of.

 

[deeps]

who can at least tell one end of a bat from the other greatly outnumber seamers who can bat (Vaas, Dion Nash, Lee, Naved-ul-Hasan, um...)

Akram, Gillespie, Lee, Pollock, Zaheer, Balaji etc. aren't bunnies either

but you make a good point

Murali Kartik is another spinner who is a decent batsman

 

[Jamee999]

Michael Vaughan.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

I think most spinners are better with the bat because if you don't have assistance from the pitch (primarily finger-spin), as a spinner you're not really all that useful - so, being OK with the bat keeps them in the team...sort of.

Surely every bowler would strive to be at least decent with the bat though?

 

[Langeveldt]

Nicky Boje, Ian Blackwell!

 

[Barney Rubble]

Nicky Boje, Ian Blackwell!

Graeme Swann, Robert Croft (certainly in the one-day game in both cases, if possibly not FC cricket), also isn't Cameron White, the young Australian, a leg-spinning all-rounder?

 

[Dasa]

Surely every bowler would strive to be at least decent with the bat though?

I'm sure they'd try to be, but another factor is a pace bowler would probably have to be fitter than a spinner - more fitness training etc means less time working on batting maybe?

 

[no1_gangsta_786]

Shahid afridi is an allrounder who bowls spin as is shoaib malik