Garfield Sobers
Jacques Kallis
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Jacques Kallis leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Garfield Sobers at #3 and Jacques Kallis at #7.
Head-to-head FAQ
Who leads more shared metrics?
How do the published ranks compare?
Are these live stats?
The case for Garfield Sobers
Garfield Sobers is widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder cricket has produced. He scored 8,032 Test runs at 57.78 with 26 centuries, took 235 wickets bowling three different styles, fast-medium, orthodox spin, and wrist spin, and held more than 100 catches. In 1958, aged 21, he made 365 not out against Pakistan, a Test record that stood for 36 years. In 1968 he struck six sixes in an over for Nottinghamshire, the first man to do so in first-class cricket. Sobers could open the bowling or turn to spin, bat anywhere, and field brilliantly close in or in the deep, making him a complete cricketer in a way few have matched. His blend of elegance and versatility, sustained across two decades for West Indies, places him among the two or three most gifted players ever to hold a bat.
The case for Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis was the most complete all-rounder of the modern era and, statistically, one of the greatest cricketers ever. He scored 13,289 Test runs at 55.37 with 45 centuries, figures that alone would rank him among the finest batsmen, and took 292 Test wickets with genuine fast-medium pace, plus over 200 catches at slip. Across formats he passed 25,000 international runs and 500 wickets, a double no one else has achieved at that level. Kallis batted with granite orthodoxy for South Africa, often anchoring the order, while his bowling gave his captain a genuine extra seam option. Undemonstrative and sometimes overlooked beside flashier contemporaries, he compiled a body of work whose sheer breadth, elite batting and Test-class bowling sustained for two decades, is arguably unmatched in the game's history.