He definitely was a bowling all rounder. Well I guess he was a genuine all rounder because he'd have been picked on both disciplines but at the time he was a bowler who was ridiculously good with the bat. It is reflected in his batting positions.
That's what I originally went for but too many Australians is the only reason to not to.
Dean Jones instead of Smith
He is one of the very few genuine all-rounders in ODIs who are equally good in both.
In the context of a game against other ATGs I'd be much more confident in his batting than his bowling. "Genuine allrounder" is certainly fair enough but if anything I'd sooner call him a batting allrounder than a bowling allrounder.
At the same time, he averaged sub 30 with the ball as well. He could fit in the description of both batting and bowling all rounder. Probably the only cricketer to average 40+ with the bat and < 30 with the ball.
Yeah it is strange he never became like a permanent 5 or 6. There was a time when he was arguably the best LO batsmen in the side and was still in the lower order
I would say he fits neither, in the context of how the terminology is usually applied. A batting all-rounder (eg. Symonds) is one who is picked as a batsman who can bowl a bit but not going to be a main bowler, and vice versa for bowling all-rounder
He was ideally suited to that role. It would have been unwise to put him up in the first 15-20 overs or against a newish ball on 90s ODI wickets. If he came around again in 2021 with the way ODIs are set up these days though he could probably bat anywhere and be a beast, even open.
Yeah he opened or batted 3 quite a bit in the late 90s as a pinch hitter.
Yeah but Hussey, who was a specialist bat, is the only ODI no 7 who I'd rate ahead of Klusener
90s team was very good with Kirsten, Hudson, Kallis, Cullinan, Cronje, Rhodes and Boucher/Richardson being the top seven followed by allrounders like Mcmillan, Klusenar, Pollock, Symcox, Boje etc with just Donald being the rabbit at 11. Once these guys retired, they couldn't really replace anyone for sometime.
Saeed opening?
Nah that's not particularly strong top order at all, especially compared to the rest of their side, or the other stronger sides of the time. Even Kallis was a bit iffy in ODIs.
Just as a personal preference, I will have Jayasuriya there for Rohit. Adds a bowling option, a left handed option and also can go strike big-time from the outset while the others can bat for longer periods. The top 6 right now look samey.
