Botham Vs Flintoff

Sir Garry Sobers has asserted that Andrew Flintoff is now a greater all-rounder than Ian Botham was. Debates of this kind are interesting but ultimately inconclusive, as greatness is hard to quantify. Comparisons are especially difficult between an all-rounder who is still playing and a cricketer who retired over 10 years ago.

Botham is the yardstick by which all subsequent English all-rounders have been measured. Unrealistic expectations have weighed down players such as Chris Lewis, Dominic Cork and Darren Gough, all of whom never achieved the all-rounder’s double of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs in Test matches, an acid test for any budding all-rounder. Flintoff appeared to avoid this millstone round his neck by having a modest start to his career, but the fact that a man of Sobers’ stature can make such a comment is an indication of what Flintoff has achieved in the last few years.

Sobers did not elaborate on his assessment but a comparison of both players at the same point in their careers would be a reasonable starting point.

Player	Matches	Runs	Average	Wickets	Average
Botham	55	3008	37.14	251	23.69
Flintoff	55	2804	32.98	162	31.02

Botham played his 55th match against Australia in Perth in November 1982. His career up to that point had been one of almost continuous success; he achieved the “double” in 21 Tests and the “double double” (200 wickets and 2,000 runs) in only 42 matches. It is hardly surprising that Botham outshines Flintoff at this stage, especially as Flintoff struggled in his early matches. Botham on the other hand played his early games against teams emasculated by the absence of the Packer rebels.

When Botham was playing it appeared that every national team had an all-rounder. India had Kapil Dev, Pakistan had Imran Khan and New Zealand had Richard Hadlee. However, a quick glance at the current statistics suggests that the rigours imposed on today’s cricketers makes it more difficult for all-rounders to sustain world-class performances in both disciplines. In fact the only players currently still playing cricket who have achieved the Test “double” are: Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Daniel Vettori, Anil Kumble, Chaminder Vaas, Heath Streak, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles(!). From this list only Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis are genuine all-rounders. This puts the greatness of Flintoff into perspective.

Sobers’ comments are premature; Flintoff is in the same church but not yet the same pew as Botham, who is still the greatest all-rounder that this country has ever produced. However, Botham’s performances declined from the mid 80s onward and if Flintoff can sustain his outstanding form then he can justify Sobers’ praise.

Test no.	Botham's Batting Av.	Flintoff's Batting Av.	Botham's Bowling Av.	Flintoff's Bowling Av.	Botham's Cumulative Runs	Flintoff's Cumulative Runs	Botham's Cumulative Wickets	Flintoff's Cumulative Wickets
1	25.00	17.00	26.80	68.00	25	17	5	1
2	12.50	5.67	20.20	112.00	25	17	10	1
3	12.75	18.20	17.29	157.00	51	91	14	1
4	36.80	20.71	16.05	53.00	184	145	22	4
5	39.50	18.75	19.00	47.67	237	150	27	6
6	48.14	19.11	21.86	50.33	337	172	28	6
7	55.63	17.30	18.42	50.67	445	173	36	6
8	49.89	17.08	18.05	56.17	449	205	40	6
9	47.10	16.64	18.77	55.00	471	233	44	7
10	43.55	15.94	17.34	66.43	479	255	53	7
11	41.67	14.39	16.55	58.22	500	259	64	9
12	42.23	13.63	17.06	44.15	549	259	70	13
13	39.33	18.86	18.49	46.47	590	396	70	15
14	36.59	20.57	18.46	45.63	622	473	76	16
15	36.16	20.08	19.10	40.32	687	502	78	22
16	36.57	19.77	18.90	41.92	768	514	83	24
17	35.95	20.11	18.69	40.62	791	543	87	26
18	35.83	19.43	18.96	42.82	824	544	94	28
19	35.83	20.33	18.97	43.60	860	610	100	30
20	39.88	20.74	19.36	46.50	997	643	100	32
21	38.33	19.48	19.61	47.15	1035	643	107	33
22	36.83	20.09	19.27	50.58	1068	683	118	33
23	35.32	23.22	19.23	52.47	1095	836	122	34
24	38.19	22.79	19.60	52.14	1222	866	126	37
25	40.48	24.28	18.53	49.93	1336	971	139	41
26	39.91	26.00	18.69	49.95	1397	1066	143	43
27	39.03	24.81	19.30	47.28	1405	1067	146	47
28	38.11	24.49	19.34	46.44	1448	1102	149	50
29	36.53	25.72	19.40	45.56	1461	1209	151	52
30	35.83	26.15	19.47	45.55	1505	1255	152	53
31	35.00	26.08	20.21	45.07	1505	1278	153	55
32	33.80	25.86	20.68	41.24	1521	1293	155	62
33	32.94	27.63	20.89	42.32	1548	1409	162	63
34	32.27	28.31	21.15	41.95	1549	1472	166	66
35	31.56	29.55	21.33	41.29	1578	1566	168	69
36	31.00	29.55	21.36	40.51	1612	1625	171	73
37	29.85	29.63	21.45	38.73	1612	1689	174	77
38	32.93	31.80	21.23	38.65	1811	1876	181	79
39	32.28	32.33	20.95	37.15	1840	1940	187	85
40	33.19	32.98	20.99	37.40	1958	2012	192	87
41	32.41	33.02	21.21	36.66	1977	2047	202	92
42	31.95	32.92	20.93	36.60	2013	2107	211	95
43	32.31	32.41	21.38	35.66	2068	2139	213	101
44	32.83	31.59	21.75	35.94	2134	2148	215	104
45	33.18	32.45	21.96	34.80	2223	2239	217	110
46	33.46	32.45	22.37	33.86	2275	2239	218	115
47	35.03	32.45	22.58	33.33	2417	2239	219	119
48	34.71	31.58	22.56	33.65	2430	2242	222	123
49	35.17	32.64	22.62	32.85	2497	2383	228	130
50	36.46	32.44	22.90	32.64	2625	2433	229	135
51	38.81	33.26	23.07	32.92	2833	2561	231	138
52	37.80	33.43	23.14	32.31	2835	2641	237	143
53	38.12	33.22	23.60	31.52	2935	2691	240	150
54	37.92	33.10	23.32	30.91	2996	2747	249	158
55	37.14	32.99	23.69	31.02	3008	2804	251	162
56	36.90	32.37	24.09	31.52	3063	2816	254	163
57	37.13		24.24		3156		259
58	37.11		24.53		3229		262
59	36.70		24.48		3266		267
60	36.34		24.41		3307		271
61	36.01		24.72		3349		271
62	35.98		24.53		3418		276
63	36.58		24.82		3548		277
64	37.61		24.99		3686		283
65	37.04		25.21		3704		284
66	37.37		25.46		3774		284
67	36.95		25.59		3806		286
68	37.22		25.95		3908		287
69	37.56		25.99		4019		295
70	37.41		26.14		4078		295
71	36.80		26.30		4085		297
72	36.75		26.19		4153		305
73	36.48		26.25		4159		312
74	36.47		26.28		4231		319
75	36.62		26.20		4321		326
76	36.63		26.29		4359		329
77	36.49		26.36		4379		333
78	36.34		26.52		4397		337
79	36.14		26.37		4409		343
80	35.91		26.41		4453		345
81	35.37		26.53		4456		346
82	35.09		26.69		4491		347
83	35.03		26.58		4554		352
84	34.67		27.06		4577		354
85	35.12		27.07		4636		357
86	35.89		27.10		4774		360
87	35.41		27.26		4780		361
88	35.36		27.05		4809		366
89	34.96		27.21		4825		366
90	35.06		27.22		4873		367
91	34.85		27.22		4879		367
92	34.71		27.22		4929		367
93	34.53		27.50		4972		370
94	34.88		27.86		5057		373
95	34.95		27.99		5103		374
96	34.51		28.01		5107		376
97	34.36		28.28		5119		376
98	34.36		28.23		5154		379
99	34.28		28.27		5176		380
100	33.93		28.24		5192		383
101	33.93		28.38		5192		383
102	33.55		28.40		5200		383