kyear2
International Coach
Here's my rough go at it looking at player value, only including post-war players and skewed towards more modern ones I know more about.
Imran
McGrath
S Pollock
Murali
Hadlee
Steyn
Ambrose
Marshall
Donald
Miller
Garner
Ashwin
Philander
Wasim
Warne
Top 5 very clearly separate themselves from the pack though, in my mind.
CW has for quite some time seriously over rated bowling allrounders, that's nothing new.
But to rank Pollock as the 3rd most valuable player of all time is ludicrous. I get it, bowler who can score some runs. But as a bowler does he even make top 15 or top 20 for most, and as with most bowling all rounder's, how impactful were these runs, how many led to victories. We just like to look at numbers. Yeah it's handy to have a number 8 who can score some runs, get you out of the occasional jam, add some partnerships at the back end, I get it. But to elevate a top 15 - 20 bowler to top 3 is a bit much.
As an aside if wickets are more important than runs, one would think that with at a least a third of wickets being taken behind the stumps, some that some credit be given to the specialists who take those catches. Hence I would imagine that for you slip catching as a secondary skill, should be at least just important as lower order batting if not more so?
And as I'm typing Wasim of all people literally is speaking about how slip fielding has always be a weakness for Pakistan cricket. The universe is backing me up here, lol.
But back to the primary point, for me bowling all-rounders are schematically and functionally less useful than bowling ones, primarily because at the end of the day, you still then need a batsman who can bowl if you're to have a 5th bowling option. Which is important if for nothing else, to assist with the rotation, keeping bowlers fresh and the occasional partnership breaking wicket. So when you have guys like Sobers, Kallis or Hammond who are atg bats, sublime elite slip fielders and excellent relief bowlers, it's hard to beat the value there.
A top 10 is tough though because I have 7 elite batsmen, 8 excellent bowlers and 2 superb all round cricketers who arguably deserve spots.