A Thinner Margin

” A Thinner Margin “
( Comparison between Keith Miller and Imran Khan )

Cricket is the longest format game after Chase. And known as the game of gentlemen and royal ones. For its sophisticated cult is considered as the gracefulness. Cricket has many fields like batting , bowling, fielding , batting-fielding , batting-bowling -fielding, captaincy, umpiring , spin bowling ,fast bowling and medium bowling, wicketkeeping opening batting , 1st down , middle order , etc.
In my discourse I am attending the field of All-rounder . If talk about all-rounders then some names emerge at once in the mind. Yeah who have left the mark as the all-rounder. Cricket started in 1977 authentically. Since then the all-rounders who emerged are Contestinine from West Indies , Keith Miller , Ruchi Benod, S Watson from Australia, Gary Soberse and his colleague ……… Mustaq Mohammad and Imran Khab from Pakistan Chris Cairans and Richard Hadlee from New Zealand Andrew Flintoff and Ian Bothom from England , Jack Kallis ,S Pollack ,L Clusner from S Africa , Sanat Jaysurya from S Lanka, Vinu Mankad and Kapil Dev Mushfisher Rehman from Bangladesh . And the subject of comparison between always remained so exciting and interesting. If we peep out closely then figures favour Keith Miller and Imran Khan. And genuinely Imran rests at the first slot. Why Imran is the utmost all-rounder…? Yes due to his so impressive bowling figures and batting figures. Bowling under 22 and batting average above 35. Bowling is rather greater challenging than the batting. If focuses on the batting then Garry Soberse and J Kallis rest uppish. Their batting average and runs’ tally is huge . Yes maximum hundreds, big individual score and over hundred catches. But their bowling average is diminished or not much impressive. Who can be considered the biggest all-rounder? What norms should be to measure it ? Yes if we observe all the all-rounders then no one can be said the perfect all-rounder. Why …. Because there are the batting all-rounder, bowling all-rounder, fielding all-rounder. The batsman all-rounders are Garry Soberse , J Kallis whose batting average is above 55 but bowling economy is bit slenty . Yes above 25 and according to the critics and evaluation Gurus count less if the bowling average is above 25. And under this norms the greatest spinner like Shane Warne isn’t included in the greatest bowlers list.
And under this norms many giants of the bowling world are excluded like Kapil Dev , Andi Roberts …..
So what should be the norms for the best all-rounder. The best all rounder means the best batsman, the bowler ,the best fielder . And if talk about the figures then batting average must be above 60 ,bowling average must be under 20 and catching and stopping runs average also be attend to have scrutiny.
And alas these figures haven’t been touched or crossed by any all-rounder. Test match is the real testing format and the feat is awaiting…….
Yeah it is a big challenge that the cricketer could achieve this feat.
Yeah for the batsmanship the height isn’t big matter and the game cricket has produced many little masters. Yeah Sunny Gavaskar,GR Wishwnath ,Hanif Mohammed , A Kalicharan,Rohan Kanhai are the big names who were not tall. But yes they all are phenomal gems of cricket ever and have big height in the game of Cricket. But for the bowling the bowler needs height. And for the speedster the height is a big point. Yes for the spinner it is not necessary but if have good height the bowler’s approach gets solidity. If we observe out the speedy bowlers then only Melcom Marshal’s was short stature. I mean M Marshal ‘s height was under 6 feet. But M Marshal is exception in this concerned. If talk about the bowler’s height then M Marshal rest at the top slot. He has the heighest ( lowest or thrifty ) average. But it is tough to maintain in all the fields of the game. And the Test game is still awaiting the allrounder of that kind who could have over 60 average in batting ,under 20 bowling average and per match 3 catch and maximum run stopping where he gets ball.
Here i am discussing about two greatest allrounders Keith Miller and Imran Khan because figures’ point of view both the characters are very nearer. Keith Miller played 55 Tests ,2958 runs,36.97 batting average , 7 century ,13 half centuries and made having 36.97batting average as a batsman , heighest score 147 as a fast bowler 170 wickets by bowling 10461 , 7 fivefers 1 tenser and 22.97 economic average.,catches 38
7/60 best bowling analysis
And comparative to Imran Khan
88 Tests , 3807 runs batting average 37.69, 6 hundred 18 half hundreds , 137 top score as the fast bowler bowled out 19498 balls 362 wickets by keeping 22.81 bowling average, 23 fivefers 6 tenters ,
8/58 to the best bowling figure
and 28 Test catches.
Yes the World Test cricket has many All-rounders but bowling-batting- fielding point out view no one rests perfect or balanced . So Imran Khan and Keith Miller’s figures are matchable and if have norms 25 bowling average and 35 batting average then only K Miller and Imran Khan do rest at the top and unanimously Imran Khan rests as the topper though by slenty margin.
If we go down to the depth then lingevity is a big matter and after 90s the boom came in playing the Test series. Before 90s very less cricketers who could touch the envious mark of 100 Test. Collin Crowdey was the lone cricketer who crossed the 100 Test mark. But after 90 there is boom in this regards . And to play100 Test did become very simple for those who had the consistancy. For the batsman it is easy to carry the long career but for the bowler particularly the pacers it is not easy to touch 100 Test Match mark. As a genuine Test bowler Kapil Dev was the 1st paceman who touched 100 Test mark. He played 134 Tests and his last 34 Tests were dragged out by the selectors only to name highest Test wicket in the World. We know that he played under eclipse or in diminish performance. Post to him Curtley Walsh played 100 Test as the speedy bowler. Then there are bowler like W Akram, G Mecgrath , D Styne are few bowler who could touched and crossed 100 Test mark. So it is very clear that there are few members in this elite club.
Since today there are only 67 cricketers could have crossed 100 Test mark and amon them only 17 are the bowlers. They are Kapil Dev, I Bothom, C Walse, Wasim Akram, Steve Waugh, S Warne . G Mecgrath, D Styn , M Muralidharan, C Vaas, M Natini, A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, S Pollock, C Broad, J Anderson, J Kallis, Vittore, Among them S Waugh, J Kallis were the medium pacers and fundamentally the batsman and mere the supplementary bowler. Vividly rest of 15 are the genuine bowler and five are the spinners ( Vittore, S Warne , M Murlidharan, A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh) and 10 are genuine quick bowlers.
If we talk about the capability and physical strength then J Kallis wad much fitted cricketer as the all-rounder because he was 6 feet tall and had solid shoulder. So he could generate much pace and could be the dangerous paceman but he didn’t take bowling seriously and he dominated greaterly as the batsman. J Kallis his career with dazzling figures. He has over 55 batting average and under 33 bowling average. So the all rounder want to dominate in all the three arena batting -bowling- fielding then the cricketer must take all the fields very seriously and need to practice hard to dominate in all the three sections.
Ultimately I salute Mr K Miller and Imran Khan whose figures are marvelous . And I conclude these two giants as the greatest all-rounder of the Test cricket. The world cricket fraternity has the great esteem for both the gentlemen.
*NK Sevak “Sanatan”