Who is the greatest allrounder of the game?

Cricket has witnessed the advent of all-rounders ever since its birth. From the times of Gary Sobers to those of Jacques Kallis, taking interest in both departments (bowling and batting) of the game by the same person has been a predominant feature of the gentleman's name. Media and cricket fanatics are often divided, when it comes to picking the most successful cricket all-rounder of all times. Well, I believe there are only a handful of genuine all-rounders.

My vote unequivocally goes for Sir Ian Botham, as I rate all-rounders mainly on the basis of the number of 100s and 5-wicket hauls, as both are more or less equivalent in importance. With 23 5-wicket hauls and 14 tons in Tests, Ian Botham's numbers are staggering in this regard. There is barely a lot of difference between the number of five-wicket hauls and tons, considering the statistics of other renowned allrounders, such as Kallis (5 fivers and 45 tons in tests) and Sobers (6 fivers and 26 centuries in tests). Moreover, Beefy has slammed a ton and picked up 5-wicket hauls in the same Test match for 4 times in his career, the most ever by any cricketer. This shows he has contributed more or less evenly to both bowling and batting, whereas players like Kapil (bowling) and Kallis (batting) have excelled only at one department in reality.

I know that people will have other parameters, like bowling and batting averages, and so on for judging an allrounder's quality. So, please be sure to lend your thoughts to the subject.

Good claim for Beefy ! 

Sir Gary Sobers!  Beefy was good but not that good. I rate Imran better than Beefy. 

Imrn ever took a 5 fer and score a Ton in the same game :

4 times or more by the end of his Career  ?

i have not looked up the 5fer, but Imran has led Pakistan team to greatness and has won more games.

The thread is about ALL ROUNDERS :

Winning-est Captain is a different Category 

arite, if you want stats

First Class batting record
Imran - avg 36.79, total runs vs Botham 33.97

Test batting record
Imran, 10,100 run, avg 33.22
Botham, 10,474, avg 29.50

First Class blowing record
Imran - 382 matches, took 1,287 wickets, Ave 22.32, econ rate, 2.64, 5 wicket hauls - 70, 10 wicket hauls - 13
Botham - 402 matches, took 1,172 wickets, ave 27.22, econ rate 3.01, 5 wicket hauls - 59, 10 wicket hauls - 8

Test bowling record
Imran - 425 matches, took 507 wickets, Ave 22.31, econ rate, 3.54, 5 wicket hauls - 12, 10 wicket hauls - 6
Botham - 470 matches, took 612 wickets, ave 24.94, econ rate 3.99, 5 wicket hauls - 15, 10 wicket hauls - 3

So in Tests , Beefy gats the upper hand in Bowling 5Fers:

while making a TON same game ....4 times !

Thanks for the additional TEST stats  8)

here is more http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/con...84478.html

Sir Garry for me. Followed by Botham, Imran Khan and Kallis. From a pure statistical standpoint, Kallis deserves to be second on the list, but he had less match winning performances when compared to Beefy.

An excellent, indepth analysis can be read here. This article takes into consideration a wide number of factors and comes to the conclusion that Sobers was the best, followed by Kallis, Botham and Imran Khan.