Richard Hadlee picks Ben Stokes as the top all-rounder among current players

Allrounders are one of the rare breeds to find in cricket. They can either change the game with the ball or score a handy 50 with the bat to win games for their teams on their own. Over the years, the likes of Garfield Sobers, Richard Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham Imran Khan and Jacques Kallis have gone on to set benchmarks for the future cricketers to be good with both bat and ball.

Hadlee was one of many bowling allrounders for New Zealand to win games by having an impact with both bat and ball. He scored 3124 runs in Test and picked 431 wickets and was widely regarded as the best allrounders during his prime. Now we see the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya carrying forward the legacy that was set up by these legendary cricketers.

Hadlee spoke to Times of India and shared his views on the allrounders and has picked one amount a current lot of players.

Hadlee picks his favorite all-rounder among the current crop of players

“The battle of the allrounders in the ’70s and ’80s was a special time,” Hadlee said. “We all competed against each other and there was a strong desire and determination to succeed. My role in the team was to out-form Imy, Beefy or Kaps. Whilst there was tremendous rivalry between the four of us, there was also mutual respect.”

Hadlee also stated that Kallis was the best in the late 90s and 2000s and further added that Ben Stokes is best among the current crop of players. In the past few years, Stokes single-handedly won England the World Cup in 2019 and later won the Headingley Test by scoring a majestic unbeaten 135 against arch-rivals Australia.

The maverick allrounder had a phenomenal 2019 and was rightly named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and also the ICC Player of the year.

“Today, when I look at all-rounders, Ben Stokes stands out as number one-he is a competitor, a quality batsman and handy bowler who has single-handedly won games for England. Ravindra Jadeja, Shakib Al Hasan, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Jason Holder are all worthy in their won right,” Hadlee added.