Test all-rounders who featured among top three run-getters and wicket-takers in a calendar year

By Bharath Seervi Updated: Sep 29, 2015, 12:38 AM IST

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Sir Ian Botham is one of only © Getty Images

Sir Ian Botham is one of only four players have made it to the list since World War II © Getty Images[/caption] As many as 14 players have achieved the all-round feat of being among the top 3 run-getters and wicket-takers of the same calendar year in Tests. Bharath Seervi lists them with relevant facts and trivia. All-rounders are crucial parts of most successful playing XIs. Batting all-rounders provide a good bowling option while contributing heavily with the bat; bowling all-rounders, on the other hand, are typically quality bowlers but capable of pulling off crucial performances down the order. There have also been a handful of players who have been equally good at both. Only 14 players have featured among the top 3 run-getters as well as among the top 3 wicket-takers in the same calendar year in Test cricket. Interestingly, no player featured more than once; the last such instance came in 1982 — as many as 33 years back. Only one player has the distinction of being the highest run-getter and wicket-taker of a particular calendar year in Tests — George Giffen in 1894. He scored 277 runs in 2 Tests and picked up 14 wickets. The table below lists those 14 players along with their rank among the batsmen and the bowlers for as the highest wicket-taker and highest wicket-taker in that calendar year.

Year	Player	Team	M	R	Ave	W	Ave	Ave Diff	Bat rank	Bowl rank
1877	Allen Hill	Eng	2	101	50.50	7	18.57	31.92	3	3
1881	George Ulyett	Eng	1	110	55.00	3	23.66	31.33	3	3
1885	Billy Barnes	Eng	4	207	34.50	16	12.75	21.75	2	2
1888	Charlie Turner	Aus	4	79	11.28	33	10.54	0.74	3	1
1894	George Giffen	Aus	2	277	69.25	14	28.14	41.10	1	1
1904	Monty Noble	Aus	4	262	52.40	13	14.76	37.63	2	2
1905	Stanley Jackson	Eng	5	492	70.28	13	15.46	54.82	1	3
1910	Aubrey Faulkner	SA	7	862	66.30	32	24.84	41.46	1	2
1920	Warwick Armstrong	Aus	2	209	69.66	7	14.14	55.52	3	2
1921	Jack Gregory	Aus	11	665	51.15	43	27.09	24.06	3	2
1952	Vinoo Mankad	Ind	9	448	37.33	51	21.68	15.64	3	1
1966	Garry Sobers	WI	7	895	99.44	32	24.00	75.44	1	2
1974	Tony Greig	Eng	14	934	44.47	46	27.36	17.10	2	1
1982	Ian Botham	Eng	14	1095	49.77	47	37.23	12.53	1	3

- Only four players have made it to the list since World War II — Vinoo Mankad, Garry Sobers, Tony Greig and Ian Botham. - Warwick Armstrong and Jack Gregory were the only ones to achieve this between the Wars. Interestingly, they did it in the first two years after World War I. There was a 31-year gap after Gregory’s feat. - There was only one Test played in 1881. - In the early days, the numbers of Tests and teams were reasonably lower, which explains the high frequency from the pre-World War I era. Players who were highest run-getters and wicket-takers in different calendar years in Tests Some all-rounders have ended as top run-scorers and highest wicket-takers in different years. Giffen achieved it in the same year, while two others did it in different years. Armstrong topped the batting chart in 1908 and bowling chart in 1905, while Botham, highest run-getter in 1982, was the highest wicket-taker in 1978.

Player	Top run-getter	Top wicket-taker
George Giffen	1894	1893, 1894, 1895
Warwick Armstrong	1908	1905
Ian Botham	1982	1978

(Bharath Seervi is cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)

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