Top 5 Australian all-rounders of all time

The term all-rounder gets strewn around far too callously these days, and anyone who can even hold both the bat and ball with some distinction is accorded this tag. However, genuine all-rounders in cricket have been a rare commodity and the fact that not many teams have the luxury of availing the services of such rare players, is a testament to their uniqueness.

A genuine all-rounder is one, who can merit selection into the team either by batting or bowling, and they have to be admirable in both these aspects.

Amongst the many different cricket teams, Australia have always been blessed with one all-rounder who has always helped in maintaining the balance of the team.

Here in this list we take a list of top 5 Australian all-rounders over the years.

#1 Keith Miller

Tall, brash, supremely talented and with looks to kill, Keith Miller is perhaps the greatest ever all-rounder to have emerged from Australia. On his day, Miller could win games almost single-handedly with either bat or ball, and his flamboyance with both was an absolute delight.

A member of Bradman's Invincibles, when Miller announced his retirement from Test cricket in 1956, he had the best numbers in the game for any all-rounder at that time.

Miller started as a batsman and then gradually worked on his bowling, and emerged as a world beater in both those domains. He was needed more as a bowler in the strong Invincibles line-up, and his numbers are a testament to his prowess.

In 55 matches, Miller scored 2958 runs with an average of 36.97, which included 7 centuries. With the ball he picked up 170 wickets with a dazzling average of 22.97.