The Allrounder in Cricket: Why Balance-Changers Are Cricket's Most Valuable Asset
An allrounder contributes meaningfully with both bat and ball. From Garfield Sobers to Jacques Kallis to Ben Stokes, cricket's greatest allrounders have won matches others couldn't — and changed how teams are built.
Cricket teams have 11 players. Five or six must bat reliably; three or four must bowl effectively; one must keep wicket. The allrounder solves the resource problem: a player who can bat at number 5 AND take 10 wickets per Test effectively gives a team a 12th player's worth of production from an 11-man squad.
Types of Allrounders
Batting allrounders bat in the top six and bowl as a secondary option (Ian Botham, Ben Stokes). Bowling allrounders bowl 25+ overs per Test and contribute runs lower in the order (Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev). True allrounders do both at near-specialist level — Garfield Sobers, Jacques Kallis, and Shakib Al Hasan are the short list. T20 all-format allrounders (Hardik Pandya, Dwayne Bravo) have redefined the role in limited-overs cricket.
Garfield Sobers: The Standard
Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies, 1954–1974) is universally acknowledged as the greatest allrounder in cricket history. He scored 8,032 Test runs at an average of 57.78 (better than most specialist batsmen of his era), took 235 wickets with three different bowling styles (left-arm pace, orthodox spin, and wrist spin), and was a brilliant fielder. He scored the first Test six-sixes-in-an-over (off Malcolm Nash, Swansea, 1968). No cricket player has come close to matching his dual contributions.
Ben Stokes: The Modern Allrounder
Ben Stokes (England, 2011–present) became the defining allrounder of the 2020s through his Headingley 2019 heroics (135* to win the Ashes Test when England needed 73 from 73 balls with one wicket remaining), his role in England's 2019 World Cup triumph (35 runs and a crucial run-out in the Super Over), and his captaincy of England's 'Bazball' approach from 2022. He is a batting allrounder — his bowling has been limited by a knee injury since 2023 — but his leadership transformed English cricket.
T20 Allrounders: A New Role
T20 cricket has created demand for a specific allrounder profile: a player who can bat in the 'finisher' role (hitting 60–80 at a strike rate of 150+) AND bowl 4 economical overs. Hardik Pandya epitomises this role for India — he can bat at number 5 or 6, bowl 145 km/h, and fields brilliantly. Dwayne Bravo (now retired) was the template for this profile across Caribbean cricket.