Cricket: Tough task of picking the test allrounder who rules them all

When Jacques Kallis broke his double-hundred duck against India a few days ago, it again raised the old question: who has been test cricket's greatest allrounder?

There's no question that Kallis, who has sailed under the radar for much of his career, going about his business in a largely unfussy way, ranks among the greats.

His numbers tell their own story.

Going into the second test against India on Sunday, only two players - specialist batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, with 50, and Ricky Ponting, on 39 - have scored more tons than the beefy 35- year-old from Cape Town.

The next three names on that list are also batsmen - Brian Lara, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid. Only five players have scored more than his 11,567 runs for their country.

Now throw in 268 wickets at 31.92, fourth best among his countrymen, and 163 catches - seventh alltime - with his bucket hands and you have the complete player. But is he the most complete?

That's where this becomes rather subjective.

Gary Sobers set the benchmark with his marvellous performances over 20 years for the West Indies.

Through the 1980s, a Gang of Four duelled for the right to be called cricket's finest allrounder - Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan.

More latterly, Shaun Pollock put up numbers to be proud of; New Zealand captain Dan Vettori is another whose achievements stand tall in the best company.

So what is the yardstick?

Does an ability with the bat outweigh others whose superior string was with the ball?

How much does longevity come into it? Does a player's quality of performance in his latter years need to measure up to his halcyon days?

At what point do natural gifts versus sheer resolve to make the best of God-given talent come into it?

Does having the burden of captaincy make some greater than the others?

One small test: would a player hold his place in a test team as both a specialist batsman and bowler?

All have made their teams stronger. None were ornaments set among more diligent single-skill teammates.

Kallis' first seven innings didn't hint at anything special: 1, 7, 6, 39, 0, 2, 2. Then came his 102 over six hours to save a test at Melbourne at the end of 1997.

From there he was away, and if there has been a criticism it was that he was too self-absorbed at times - yet South Africa would have been a poorer team without their rock.

Kallis is a batsman who bowls. Would he have made the South African side for 15 years purely as a bowler?

Unlikely.

Try comparing the big four.

Botham's game fell away over his final years. His last eight tests were spread over four years and produced 143 runs and just 10 wickets. The force of nature at the heart of the England team stayed on too long.

Hadlee took eight wickets in his final test at the start of his 40th year, including one with his final first-class delivery, so there is no argument about his worth as he wound down.

Masterly with the ball, his batting could be damaging, but perhaps not often enough.

Kapil Dev was India's greatest bowler and a charismatic figure, producing compelling swing bowling and capable of hitting as long a ball as any.

There was the strong suspicion he hung on too long simply to get past Hadlee's world mark of 431 wickets. Still, that's tough to begrudge.

Imran Khan? He got better as he went on. He could hold his place as a batsman, was a dangerous, damaging new ball bowler and led a sometimes awkward squad with a decisive commanding presence. His numbers, plus captaincy skills, mark him as the best of the four.

Which brings us to Sobers.

He was a genius, combining brilliant, blazing batsmanship, sharp swing bowling with the new ball and classy left-arm spin when the conditions called for it. Catch? In a blink. He was blessed with the reflexes to snare a passing fly.

In his fifth last test, Sobers hit 150 not out at Lord's, made five hundreds in his last 15 tests and took 14 wickets in his final four - so that's the longevity question answered.

His first test ton, 365 against Pakistan in Jamaica in 1958, was the world record for 36 years and from that point he hit six hundreds in six tests.

He was not a conspicuously fine skipper, but as a player Sobers had it all.