An All Rounder

All rounder

It was almost a year ago that Fantasy Bob paid tribute to the late Max Bygraves, who died at the weekend - making much of what is perhaps regarded as his most famous song Hands and its cricketing significance.

Bygraves was one of that dying breed, the all round entertainer.  All round cricketers are indispensable to the balance of a side but suddenly seem scarce at the top level with only Jacques Kallis fit to rival any of the greats of the music hall or variety eras.  So it is that all round entertainers seem at risk of becoming a thing of the past.  The song and dance man that can tell a story and hold the audience - will they be able to survive in the T20/MTV world?

FB is an all rounder after all - he is equally bad at bowling and batting.  So it is fitting that he should campaign of the revival of the all round entertainer.  Here is is all rounders XI (not in batting order)

Max Bygraves
Des O'Connor
Danny Kaye
Bruce Forsyth
Dickie Henderson
Dean Martin
Sammy Davis Junior
Ken Dodd
Eric Morecambe
Andy Stewart
Garry Sobers

All rounder

FB accepts that there is no evidence that Garry Sobers had a song and dance act - quite apart from uncertainty over his ability to tell a gag.  But FB has no doubt that so supreme was he as an all rounder he could have done so if he wanted to.

Whether Max Bygraves could have scored 8032 Test runs, far less taken 235 Test wickets, is a more open question.