An Allrounder - a job fit for 'Hercules'

By A. C. De Silva

The game of cricket has a number of important places on the field, but it is generally regarded that the player who would contribute as much to his side's success as the all-rounder.

This is a job fit for a Hercules type of person.

It is often said in selectorial circles that a Test allrounder should be able to hold his place both as a specialist batsman and a specialist bowler.

Now these are high ideals, so high that at the very pinacle of their careers this claim can only barely be made for such world-class performers as Trevor Bailey, Keith Miller, Ray Illingworth, Richie Benaud, Eddie Barlow, Tony Greig, Ian Botham and in post war cricket, there is Gary Sobers.

The comparison between Hercules and the all-rounder in cricket is not without substance. The wear and tear is so much greater than on, say, the opening batsman, who-like the fast bowler-usually spends a fair bit of the match with his feet up watching others struggle.

The all-rounder is usually at the centre of the action, particularly if he bats in the middle order. With the tremendous growth of limited over cricket in the past 25 years or so, middle-order batting has to combine with someone like Trevor Bailey who usually takes things carefully if quick wickets have fallen with the explosive scientific hitting of a Botham when 40 runs or so are wanted in three overs.

From a bowling point of view, the majority of Test all-rounders have been medium-pace or above seam bowlers simply because of all the arts, this is both the easiest to master and the least tiring.

More fun

A lot of emphasis is aimed at the all-rounder and mainly at those who have already got a reasonable grasp of the basics. Many cricketers and those interested in the game would have read about the technical aspects of batting and bowling and spent hours at the nets taking advice and trying to graft it on to your own game. In other fields even sportsmen of the calibre of Borg, Nichlaus, Beckenbauer and Muhammad Ali go through periods when they need to re-examine their technique and turn to outside help. This is not weakness on their parts. It is simple fact of sporting life-particularly in ball games-that small errors do unconsciously creep in, and with error comes uncertainty, followed closely by a loss of confidence leading more often than not, to defeat.

Unlike fast bowlers, all-rounders come in all shapes and sizes. In the main they are medium-pacers or orthodex spinners, with the odd rarity like Mushtaq Mohammed, who is a leg-spinner, Imran Khan, who can be genuinely quick, and the daddy of them all, Sir Garfield Sobers, who was literally everything in one!

Being an all-rounder has enormous compensations, for you need never be completely out of the game. Surprisingly, a bad run with the bat and loss of length and line with the ball rarely comes together. No one has successfully explained why this should be unless it's a case of the player in question Sub-consciously applying himself that little bit harder in one department than the other. At Test level the finest all-rounders, the Soberses, the Procters, the Bothams, seem to be able to separate this twin existence so that mentally they compete as keenly as if they had a miserable failure with their other skill.

Know your strengths

At a lower level, the best way to succeed is to quickly realise your own limitations and then play with them. If you're a good cutter of the ball but weak on the leg side then wait until an opportunity presents itself to use your strength.

Be content to push and nudge singles elsewhere. You may want to be a fast bowler and have the killer instinct and action.

But if you haven't been blessed with the inborn ability to bowl quick then throttle back to a more sedate pace where success probably awaits you. If you cannot throw a cricket ball accurately and with a flat trajectory more then 30 yards and are rather short on speed, try to become a specialist fielder nearer the bat.

Above all you must always retain a true picture of your talents in order to develop them to their utmost.

Peter Richardson, the former Worcestershire, Kent and England opening batsman who scored 44 hundreds and 25,000 first-class runs, including 2,000 in Test matches, once remarked that he only had four scoring strokes! He waited until the right ball came along and then hit it!

Temperament

A good temperament is a must if you are to succeed consistently. Everyone is nervous before an occasion so loaded with uncertainty as batting. Temperament is either something inherent which makes you lift your own game to meet the challenge or hopefully something you develop with growing experience. It might well be summed up as the ability to analyse a situation and respond to it in a positive controlled way.

A person interested in cricket should get a working knowledge of the laws of the game. A grasp of the rules will increase the individual's understanding of the game and will help to make a better player allround.

Most important thing - believe in yourself! Modesty is part of the game's great charm and long may it remain. But inwardly you must have a strength of purpose in excess of the 11 men who are trying to defeat you. All the great teams in history have had an unmistakable air of authority about them. So too have the best sides in competitions.

The way to combine all your attributes into one is to master the basic techniques, equip yourself with some tactical knowledge of the game and go into each match with an inner conviction that you and your team are better than the opposition or at the very least in with a sporting chance.

Cricket is a great leveller. It is a known fact by many people.