With change in technology, technique and formats, it has become increasingly hard to classify players as complete all-rounders. But in the 1980’s when international cricket was played under just two formats, the traditional Test being more favoured, the men who led the pack of complete performance belonged to four different parts of the world.
Sir Richard Hadlee from New Zealand, India’s Kapil Dev, Pakistan’s Imran Khan and Englishman Ian Botham were the trendsetters.
Ask Christchurch legend Hadlee who was the best among them, the answer is the flamboyant and charismatic Imran Khan.
“If I was asked to pick who was the best then, I would say Imran. And I say that because as a batsman, he could bat anywhere in the top six, sometimes in the top four, and play any type of innings depending on the circumstance of the game. He was quite versatile as a batsman. As a bowler, he was a potent strike bowler with the big inswingers, he was at you and he was quick. And his record suggests he was a fine bowler.
“A charismatic person, a good captain and a successful captain.”
But as a bowler, the 61-year-old rates himself higher. “I think I was the better bowler of the four of us and may be my record would suggest that, but my weakness was my batting. I scored less Test hundreds than anyone else, my batting average was lower than the others. So whilst I had some good innings, my batting was inconsistent. I wouldn’t put myself in that same category, actually, but as a bowler definitely.”
Going back in time, the former pacer reminiscing the glorious days said, “The era that I played with Beefy, Immy and Kapil and myself was a fantastic one because it really was the battle of the all-rounders. In the 80s, we didn’t have technology. Now you can dial up on the internet to see exactly what the player is doing, but in our day, you had to read the newspaper or listen to the odd radio report and we were all always trying to know what the other had done somewhere around the world. And when you had those one-on-one battles, it was all go. I didn’t want to get out to Kapil or Immy or Beefy but I certainly wanted to get them out when I bowled. So that competition actually grew and that motivation actually grew.
“That was a fantastic era.”
Speaking about the all-time great Gary Sobers, Hadlee said, “Sobers traditionally has always been regarded as the no. 1 because people would pay to go and see him play. He was a very flamboyant and rhythmical batsman, bowler, fielder and captain. He was a whole package and the stats would back that up.”