Best Aussie Allrounder

[cricketnut14]

On the back of the Jadeja plaudits - let's look at Australia's best test allrounders.

Australia have traditionally have structured their team: 6 bats. wicketkeeper and 4 bowlers as we haven't been as blessed producing world class allrounders. Usually someone batting in the top 6 have been able to roll over the arm.

Australia have plenty of what I call 'white ball format allrounders or batting/bowling allrounders.

I'd be interested to see who everyone thinks Australia's best 5 allrounders have been.

The data below shows their averages, overs per match bowled and wickets per match with a qualification of 30 tests (with green being the only exception as he will get there soon).

While I didn't see Miller or Noble play, they clearly could make the side on either skillset and are the only ones in the batting allrounder list who averaged 2+ wickets per match and on the bowling side with a batting average of 30+.

The others have either been batting allrounders or bowling allrounders.

Players such as Watson, Matthews, Armstrong, Macartney, Mackay and Green produced more all round efforts in their collective first class careers.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Keith Miller is the greatest allrounder to ever play for Oz. Should have been captain but politics got in the way. Played plenty of footy for St Kilda before WWII before moving to Sydney on return from the war.

I set the Statsguru query for players who have made at least 1,000 test runs, and taken at least 100 wickets, and set the batting average of at least 35.00, which is the sort of average you want a number 6 to have if they are going contribute with the ball and a bowling average of 25.00 or less, which is the average of someone who can make a decent impact with the ball.

Only 3 names are produced - Imran, Jadeja and Miller by the Statsguru query.

All-round records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

I reckon Ritchie is 2nd best and Monty Noble 3rd best. Both were captains of Australia Ritchie 28 of his 63 tests, Monty 15 of his 42 tests.

Alan Davidson's record is under appreciated but not having made a century counts against him. Ray Lindwall made 2 tons so he has to be considered. Warnie probably was a better batsman than his record suggested but he threw his wicket away quiet often.

I have put the last 3 Oz fast bowlers who have done the 1,000 runs / 100 wicket double and taken at least 200 wickets for comparison.

Pat Cummins can bat but before he became test captain he didn't deliver on his potential. As captain he has had a lot of important knocks that have contributed to wins.

Kim Hughes has told the story a couple of times on radio that when he went to the Cricket Academy he watched Pat bat when he was 18 or 19, and was impressed with his technique. When he went and asked about him to one of the coaches, he asked what number he batted at, and was floored when he was told he was a fast bowler who batted at 9 or 10. He said his technique was of someone who was a batsman not a bowler.

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	HS	Ave	100	Wkts	Ave	5 W	Av Dif
R Benaud (AUS)	1952-1964	63	2201	122	24.45	3	248	27.03	16	-2.58​
MA Noble (AUS)	1898-1909	42	1997	133	30.25	1	121	25.00	9	5.25​
AK Davidson (AUS)	1953-1963	44	1328	80	24.59	-	186	20.53	14	4.06​
RR Lindwall (AUS)	1946-1960	61	1502	118	21.15	2	228	23.03	12	-1.88​
G Giffen (AUS)	1881-1896	31	1238	161	23.35	1	103	27.09	7	-3.74​
SK Warne (AUS)	1992-2007	145	3154	99	17.32	-	708	25.41	37	-8.09​
MG Johnson (AUS)	2007-2015	73	2065	123*	22.20	1	313	28.40	12	-6.20​
PJ Cummins (AUS)	2011-2024	​ 62​	1295​	64*	17.03​	-	​ 269​	22.53​	​ 12​	-5.50​
MA Starc (AUS)	2011-2024	​ 89​	2093​	​ 99​	20.51​	-	​ 358​	27.74​	​ 14​	-7.23​