What Is An All-Rounder?
Cricket All-Rounders
What is an all-rounder?
Short answer, an all-rounder is a player who is both proficient with the bat and with the ball.
Logically it would seem better to have an entire team full of all-rounders. After all, it makes the batting line up longer and it gives the captain more bowling options in case one or two are under-performing.
However, there is more to all-rounders than the name would give away.
History of all-rounders
All-rounders have always been existence ever since the dawn of cricket. The importance of them, however, has been on the rise, especially over the last few decades.
In the oldest format of the game, test matches, it's not really about how many ends you can hold but more about how well you can hold a single end. This is because in test matches the time factor is usually not an issue. It's more a test of skill and endurance.
Therefore, there tends to be a general preference of specialist batsmen and bowlers over all-rounders in the longest format of the game.
However, with the rise of short format matches, especially T20 and T10 leagues, all-rounders have become an in-demand commodity. Due to the fast-paced nature of the shorter formats, wickets tumble faster, and so all-rounders can help make the batting line up lengthier.
Also, these matches are usually played on flat surfaces to increase entertainment value, and so captains also need all-rounders to shore up their bowling attack.
Duties of an all-rounder
(i) An all-rounder's first and most important role is to provide a team with balance.
(ii) In a batting line up, all-rounders bridge the top order and the tail. They can bat lower down the batting order hence ensuring that there is no batting collapse once the top order batsmen are dismissed.
A specialist batsman batting down the order would potentially displace a bowler, consequently causing imbalance between the batting and bowling.
An all-rounder, on the other hand, is very much capable of making up with the ball. Meaning a team can go into a match with only three specialist bowlers, bolstered with three all-rounders. It makes the batting card stronger and longer without great detriment to the bowling line up.
(iii) The same goes when prepping a bowling card. All-rounders add depth to a bowling line up.
Instead of going with five specialist bowlers, a captain can opt for four specialists and add two all-rounders. That gives an extra option to rotate with if one of the other bowlers is not having a good day with the ball.
(iv) Meaning all-rounders are a captain's insurance plan.
Types of all-rounders
Most all-rounders are not as good with the ball as they are with the bat, and vice versa.
Some are better with the ball in hand, others are better with the bat, and a few are equally very competent with both. An all-rounder's strength determines his role in a team.
There are three types of all-rounders:
Bowling all-rounders
These are generally good bowlers who are decent with the bat. They can put up a batting shift when needed and can produce match-winning runs.
Bowling all-rounders are especially handy on surfaces that assist bowlers where captains might opt to go for a bowling-heavy team.
Related: Types of playing surfaces (pitches)
Batting all-rounders
These are competent batsmen with ample skill to hold up an end with the ball when needed.
Batting all-rounders are ideal selections on flat surfaces where the bat will dominate the ball. In such instances, lineups are usually batting-heavy.
'Genuine' all-rounders
These distinguished few are so good with both bat and ball it's near impossible to tell which skill they perform better.
It's easy to think of one Jacques Kallis who could bat at number 3 or 4, averaging around 50, and could yet still open the bowling attack.
However, the topic of whether an individual is a genuine all-rounder or not is subjective. To some, genuine all-rounders don't exist. It all depends on the bar one would set to classify a player as a good batsman or good bowler.
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