In cricket, an all-rounder is a player who is good at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat, and most batsmen end up bowling occasionally, most players are not very skilled in the other discipline and are not considered all-rounders. However, wicket-keepers who are also very good batsmen (such as Adam Gilchrist) are considered by some to be all-rounders.
There is some confusion as to the precise definition that a player needs to fit in order to be considered an all-rounder. The generally accepted criterion is that a genuine all-rounder is someone whose batting or bowling skills, considered alone, would be good enough to win them a place on the team. By this definition, true all-rounders are quite rare, and extremely valuable to a team since they effectively count as two players. One commonly used statistical rule of thumb is that the batting average of an all-rounder (the higher the better) should be greater than the bowling average (the lower the better); for example, Ian Botham had averages in Test cricket of 33.34 with the bat and 28.40 with the ball.
Because all-rounders are so useful, a number of players have played cricket at the highest level even though they fall slightly short of Test standard in both disciplines and do not fit the "classic" all-rounder definition. In this list one might include David Capel, Gareth Batty and Khaled Mahmud. At domestic level, such players are sometimes called "bits and pieces" players. To confuse the issue, there are many specialist batsmen and bowlers who exhibit some degree of skill in the opposite department. For example, the Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is a good batsman, but not quite good enough to be selected as a Test batsman in his own right. Debate continues as to whether players in his class, including batsmen who can bowl a few useful overs such as Sachin Tendulkar, are to be considered all-rounders.
One of the most amazing all-round feats was that of E. M. Grace on 15 August 1862. He carried his bat through the entire MCC innings, scoring 192 not out of a total of 344. He then took all 10 wickets in the Kent first innings for 69 runs. However this is not an official record as it was a 12-man game, one of the Kent batsmen was missing, and furthermore he bowled underarm.
A further confusion to all-rounder status is added when fielding is considered. Particularly in the modern game great emphasis is put on fielding skills and some exceptional fielders have been considered "all-rounders" by some, Jonty Rhodes being a prime example. If one is to consider all three disciplines then Frank Woolley perhaps stands alone. He is the only player to take 1000 first class catches (excluding wicket-keepers), only Jack Hobbs has scored more first class runs and he took over 2000 wickets at an average of less than 20.
List of Current All-rounders
Andrew Flintoff (England)
Mahendra Dhoni (India) (wicket-keeper/batsman)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia) (wicket-keeper/batsman)
Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
Irfan Pathan (India)
Shaun Pollock (South Africa)
Abdul Razzaq (Pakistan)
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (wicket-keeper/batsman)
Daniel Vettori (New Zealand)
Shoaib Malik (Pakistan)