Geoffrey Boycott speaks

In an interview with Cricinfo when asked his choice of best all-rounder of all time.


"....[But] if I had to pick my greatest allrounders, No. 1 would be Sir Garfield Sobers. He is the best batsman I have ever seen. Obviously there have been other [great] batsmen, but I have only seen people in the last 30 or 40 years. He was a fantastic batsman. As a bowler, he could bowl these wrist-spinner chinamen and the orthodox left-arm, but when he bowled seam-up - and he only did that late in his career - as a left arm swing-seamer he was quite sharp. He was much sharper than Kallis is now, at about Kallis's pace when he [Kallis] was at his youngest and best. He [Sobers] swung it alarmingly and he was a fantastic bowler.

If I had to pick another one it would be Imran Khan. If you look at his record, he averages about 37 with the bat and he gets his wickets at about 23. He has been a match-winner for Pakistan and to top that there were his leadership qualities. The Pakistan side were sometimes a rag-tag and bobtail bunch who were either fighting among themselves or there were political things going on. But Imran could pull them all together and make them what they usually are: a very talented, world-beating side. Imran has got to be in there [in my top three allrounders].

The other great allrounder I have seen is Ian Botham. He was a swing bowler at his best. He had a narrow waist, big shoulders, big back side, a lot of power and pace, and he could get right around and bowl outswingers at pace. A very aggressive bowler. He got his wickets cheaply, and then he was an exciting batman. To top that, he could catch at slip - he was brilliant.

I forgot about Sobers: he was a brilliant catcher too.

You've asked me three and I've given you three but I'd like to add one name to that. A man I didn't see but one I've read a lot about would be Keith Miller. Miller was one of the great, exciting cricketers - and I use the word "great" properly - of all time. You ask people who saw him bowl. With [Ray] Lindwall and Miller, it was like lightning. Miller bowled people out with fast, genuinely fast bowling. He was an aggressive, attacking batsman as well as a carefree individual. You ask someone like Richard Benaud and he just rolls his eyes - he thinks Miller was fantastic."

[Article at: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/talk/content/multimedia/341141.html?view=transcript]