Test all-round performances: A look

At Trent Bridge, India were pulverised by two
all-rounders, the true variety, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan. Broad scored 108
runs and captured 8 wickets for 76 runs. Bresnan scored 101 runs and captured
76 wickets for 96 runs. Rarely has been a match been dominated by two great
all-round performances. And think of it, Bell
would only have been third in the list of MOM candidates.

So I thought this is the time to look at
the truly great all-round performances in Test cricket. I have used a simple
metric of converting the performances to a runs base, assigning 25 runs to a
wicket. Of course this could be complicated a lot by considering various
related options such as bowling quality, pitch type, wicket quality, pitch
type, support received et al. However, let me stick to the simple formulae now.

Given below is the table of all-rounders
who have exceeded 350 "runs" in a Test. That is a lot, as you can see. It is
the equivalent of a batsman scoring a triple-plus century or a bowler capturing
12+ wickets.

Botham's 1980 performance, away, against India,
is truly the performance of a lifetime. 13 wickets and a century. It can only
be compared to Gooch's triple century and century in the same Test or Laker
capturing 19 wickets or Barnes capturing 17 wickets in the same Test. Let us
not forget that this was at Bombay
and was against a team which had Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Vishwanath, Kapil and
Doshi.

Atkinson and Edrich are two unlikely and
relatively unknown all-rounders in second and third positions. Dilshan just
about met the bowling limit, capturing 4 second innings wickets. However, he
also scored over 300 runs in the match.

By themselves, Broad's and Bresnan's
performances are not up there (308 and 276 respectively). However, taken
together, these two represent one of the most potent all-round combinations
ever.

A few interesting facts:

There are 50 performances with a total of
300 "runs" and above.

Botham is the supreme all-rounder,
completing five such performances. Vinoo Mankad, the unheralded Indian
all-rounder owns three such performances, ahead of more illustrious
all-rounders such as Sobers, Kallis, Greig and Imran Khan who have done it
twice.

The table also contains players who are
predominantly batsmen, such as Compton, Cowper and Bill Edrich. It also contains
bowlers such as Larwood and Wasim Akram.

If we keep the lower limit at 300, there is
no instance of two players completing this performance in the same match. However,
if we lower the limit to 250, there is one instance. Readers would not get a
prize for guessing when. It was four days back, at Trent Bridge,
by Broad and Bresnan of England!