Having come up with a formula for baseball that I was happy with, cricket was my first attempt to see if the concept could be applied to other sports. Like baseball, it has a detailed statistical record that goes back to the 19th Century, and it tracks individual numbers for all players, allowing me to put off the problem of team defense for another day.

Cricket fans will no doubt wonder what business an American has passing judgement on the greats of this game, and there will some results that will be blamed on my ignorance (Graham Gooch over Viv Richards?), but I hope a glance at my methods will alleviate any doubts.

Two decisions will stand out in particular. One was to use first-class statistics rather than Test numbers, which are the usual gold standard. This was mostly to get a big enough sample size. Don Bradman, for example, played 234 first-class matches, which is already pretty low. Judging him on just 52 Tests would border on the absurd.

Second, I used runs per match to determine the offensive rating, not runs per wicket, which is the practice for batting average. I find that some high-profile middle-order batsmen (e.g. Steve Waugh) have a very high number of not-out scores, which drives up the batting average. Using runs per match put openers and middle-order batsmen on even footing.

Offense was thankfully straightforward, since everything a batsman does goes right on the scoreboard. In this one instance, I use only a single rating for offense, simply dividing a batsman’s runs by the average for the season.

The first defensive number is wickets taken: catches, stumpings and, for bowlers, wickets bowled and batsmen trapped LBW. Defense 2 is for bowling; runs given up per wicket lower than 1½ times the season’s average.

The complication came when figuring out limited-overs matches. Because the actual number of overs in “List-A” matches has varied over the years, I use runs per 50 overs rather than runs per match. The bigger problem is that each bowler is limited to no more than one-fifth of the overs, which means that star bowlers are not able to dominate as they do in the longer format. Modern bowlers, who generally play twice as many limited-overs matches as first-class, end up with fairly low 160-game averages as a result.

To limit the effect, Apples & Oranges weighs first-class matches 4 times more valuable than limited-overs matches (or Twenty20, which becomes a third category) when figuring out the 160-game average. But it’s still a problem. There’s also a slight change to figuring out the defensive numbers. Defense 2 is based on runs given up per over rather than per wicket, and all wickets taken by a bowler count in figuring out Defense 1.

Lastly, I include the unofficial World Series Cricket as its own separate “season.”

Batsmen	Matches	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Don Bradman	234	35.03	23.95	5.92	29.87		45.28	2.62
Graham Gooch	1195	134.55	17.99	11.60	29.59		29.74	6.25
Geoff Boycott	922	100.09	18.29	10.00	28.29		34.33	2.25
Barry Richards	598	69.94	19.84	8.36	28.21		35.13	4.56
Jack Hobbs	834	94.72	18.17	9.73	27.90		34.21	2.13
Viv Richards	1057	114.10	17.12	10.68	27.80		28.89	5.34
Denis Compton	515	62.64	19.46	7.91	27.38		32.02	6.90
Gordon Greenidge	1008	104.23	16.95	10.21	27.16		29.96	3.93
Greg Chappell	501	60.38	19.34	7.77	27.11		30.06	8.62
Sachin Tendulkar	956	101.86	16.69	10.09	26.78		29.95	3.43
Patsy Hendren	833	89.87	17.26	9.48	26.74		31.02	3.50
CB Fry	394	48.58	19.73	6.97	26.70		36.13	3.32
Ranji	307	38.63	20.13	6.22	26.35		36.46	3.81
Mahela Jayawardene	1005	90.03	16.50	9.49	25.98		28.02	4.97
Martin Crowe	508	56.82	18.29	7.54	25.82		30.76	5.81
Javed Miandad	851	82.16	16.59	9.06	25.66		28.85	4.34
Herbert Sutcliffe	754	78.23	16.60	8.84	25.45		30.65	2.55
Brian Lara	696	68.93	17.13	8.30	25.43		29.93	4.34
Rahul Dravid	854	81.94	16.38	9.05	25.43		28.28	4.48
Darren Lehmann	668	68.90	16.83	8.30	25.13		29.10	4.57
Graeme Pollock	381	44.19	18.39	6.65	25.04		33.13	3.66
Len Hutton	513	56.13	17.51	7.49	25.00		30.68	4.33
Mark Waugh	803	80.19	15.98	8.95	24.94		25.40	6.57
Sunil Gavaskar	499	51.83	17.68	7.20	24.88		32.22	3.13
Sanath Jayasuriya	933	89.59	15.29	9.47	24.76		23.88	6.61
Matthew Hayden	653	66.31	16.40	8.14	24.55		28.60	4.21
Hanif Mohammad	236	28.33	19.21	5.32	24.53		34.51	3.90
Ricky Ponting	798	74.08	15.69	8.61	24.30		27.33	4.06
Colin Cowdrey	780	74.23	15.59	8.62	24.21		27.65	3.53
Peter May	388	42.63	17.58	6.53	24.11		32.28	2.88
Virender Sehwag	685	65.63	15.94	8.10	24.04		26.61	5.27
Ian Chappell	339	37.09	17.93	6.09	24.02		29.33	6.52
Clive Lloyd	914	81.88	14.89	9.05	23.94		25.89	3.90
Rohan Kanhai	575	56.49	16.25	7.52	23.77		29.52	2.98
Ken Barrington	547	55.53	16.25	7.45	23.71		27.45	5.06
Steve Waugh	792	72.37	14.81	8.51	23.32		23.03	6.59
Sourav Ganguly	768	73.61	14.68	8.58	23.26		23.78	5.58
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	889	76.55	14.43	8.75	23.18		26.47	2.40
Allan Border	767	66.94	14.87	8.18	23.05		24.92	4.81
Younis Khan	663	57.70	15.14	7.60	22.74		25.77	4.51
Kevin Pietersen	670	61.57	14.77	7.85	22.61		26.12	3.41
Clyde Walcott	146	16.79	18.40	4.10	22.50		30.12	6.69
Justin Langer	640	57.16	14.79	7.56	22.35		25.94	3.65
Gary Kirsten	515	46.86	15.36	6.85	22.20		27.54	3.18
Mohammad Azharuddin	662	55.29	14.27	7.43	21.71		24.53	4.01
Inzamam-ul-Haq	723	59.14	13.89	7.69	21.58		24.74	3.05
Neil Harvey	306	30.52	15.96	5.52	21.48		28.71	3.21
Michael Clarke	547	47.84	14.50	6.92	21.42		23.84	5.16
Lindsay Hassett	216	22.32	16.53	4.72	21.26		29.74	3.32
David Boon	663	56.34	13.55	7.51	21.05		24.03	3.07
Everton Weekes	152	16.00	16.84	4.00	20.84		30.23	3.45
Bill Lawry	256	24.93	15.50	4.99	20.49		29.01	1.99
Mohammad Yousuf	506	40.66	14.09	6.38	20.46		26.04	2.13
Victor Trumper	255	23.79	14.93	4.88	19.80		26.31	3.55
Bill Ponsford	163	15.91	15.62	3.99	19.61		29.54	1.70
Doug Walters	318	27.39	14.29	5.23	19.53		24.13	4.47

Bradman’s offensive average of 45.28 is up there with NFL quarterbacks — no other batsman is over 40. I’d say that without World War II, he’d have gotten his overall rating past 30, but by all accounts he was breaking down physically when the fighting broke out, and it was the enforced rest from the hostilities that allowed him to get back in shape in the late ’40s. He may be the only star of that era, in any sport, who’s career was actually prolonged by the war.

Gooch, as I said, will probably raise a few eyebrows. He played for a long time and scored a lot of runs … I make no claims about his artistry.

When he retired, Brian Lara was fractionally ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, essentially tied. Some 300 games later, Tendulkar ended up 1.35 points clear.

Because of apartheid, Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock played very few Tests, another reason for going with first-class numbers. Their limited international record, including World Series Cricket, would indicate they belong with any of their peers.

All-Rounders	Matches	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
WG Grace	870	140.50	25.84	11.85	37.69		34.91	16.77
Frank Tarrant	329	55.41	26.95	7.44	34.39		24.60	29.29
Mike Procter	695	97.57	24.13	9.88	34.00		23.42	24.94
Frank Woolley	978	129.03	21.11	11.36	32.47		27.56	14.66
Garry Sobers	478	70.00	23.86	8.37	32.23		30.88	16.84
Wilfred Rhodes	1110	140.88	20.31	11.87	32.18		16.17	24.44
Richard Hadlee	660	84.97	22.73	9.22	31.94		14.41	31.04
Wally Hammond	634	88.69	22.38	9.42	31.80		35.20	9.57
Maurice Tate	679	92.74	21.85	9.63	31.48		14.94	28.77
Aubrey Faulkner	118	19.04	25.81	4.36	30.18		25.34	26.29
Young Jack Hearne	647	84.06	20.79	9.17	29.96		26.52	15.05
Imran Khan	831	97.72	20.02	9.89	29.91		19.26	20.79
Jacques Kallis	857	98.47	18.82	9.92	28.74		27.26	10.38
Ian Botham	872	99.11	18.77	9.96	28.72		19.23	18.45
Trevor Goddard	180	25.95	23.14	5.09	28.23		26.38	19.88
Learie Constantine	119	16.66	22.40	4.08	26.48		15.66	29.15
Bob Simpson	263	33.60	20.48	5.80	26.28		32.10	8.87
Richie Benaud	259	31.87	19.69	5.65	25.33		18.02	21.36
Kapil Dev	584	60.32	17.39	7.77	25.15		16.09	18.69
Keith Miller	226	27.81	19.69	5.27	24.96		24.50	14.88
Shaun Pollock	667	63.23	16.62	7.95	24.58		12.25	21.00
Frank Worrell	208	25.25	19.42	5.02	24.45		28.55	10.30
Chris Cairns	676	65.88	16.17	8.12	24.29		20.16	16.07
Alan Davidson	193	22.98	19.05	4.79	23.84		14.24	23.87
Monty Noble	248	28.61	18.46	5.35	23.81		21.77	15.14
Fazal Mahmood	112	13.29	18.99	3.65	22.63		10.82	27.17
Andrew Flintoff	504	47.63	14.91	6.90	21.82		17.56	12.27

Just defining what an “all-rounder” is can get tricky. Some are brilliant at batting and bowling; some are great at one skill and merely good in the other; and some aren’t world-beaters in either, but the combination makes them great in aggregate. For my purposes, I picked players that bowled between 1 and 10 balls for every run they scored in first-class cricket, and bowled between 10 and 40 overs per match.

As a group, they are the most valuable athletes in any sport, and W.G. Grace comes out as the top athlete by my method, just edging out Pelé. This is mostly because he dominated a still-developing sport in its infancy, but his numbers are absolutely jaw-dropping when put in context. No one exceeded his peers quite like Grace.

Wally Hammond is never really listed as an all-rounder. He wasn’t one at Test level, but he was in county cricket. If I had listed him as a batsman, he’d be No. 1 there, and he would have edged out Bradman on the strength of his bowling. That didn’t seem right. He did bowl 51,000 balls in first-class cricket, or about 22,000 more than Jacques Kallis.

Bowlers	Matches	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
George Lohmann	293	50.05	27.33	7.07	34.41		13.62	41.05
Tich Freeman	592	82.05	22.18	9.06	31.23		3.80	40.55
Hedley Verity	378	50.81	21.51	7.13	28.63		6.53	36.49
Bill O’Reilly	135	19.88	23.56	4.46	28.02		4.55	42.58
Malcolm Marshall	848	84.31	18.41	9.18	27.59		9.87	26.94
Wasim Akram	851	83.57	17.59	9.14	26.73		10.07	25.11
Charlie Parker	635	72.29	18.22	8.50	26.72		5.86	30.57
Clarrie Grimmett	248	32.32	20.85	5.69	26.54		6.53	35.18
Jack Hearne	639	70.84	17.74	8.42	26.15		5.31	30.17
Harold Larwood	361	43.99	19.50	6.63	26.13		9.10	29.89
Brian Statham	574	62.94	17.62	7.93	25.56		4.44	30.80
Muttiah Muralitharan	850	70.09	16.82	8.37	25.19		3.01	30.63
Johnny Wardle	416	47.27	18.23	6.88	25.11		8.06	28.41
Fred Trueman	621	65.66	16.99	8.10	25.09		7.17	26.80
Jim Laker	450	49.93	17.75	7.07	24.82		7.25	28.26
Fred Spofforth	155	19.33	19.95	4.40	24.35		7.14	32.78
Joel Garner	507	47.80	17.02	6.91	23.94		5.06	28.98
Sydney Barnes	133	16.19	19.48	4.02	23.50		4.86	34.09
Shane Warne	685	58.95	15.65	7.68	23.33		7.15	24.15
Anil Kumble	672	55.09	15.80	7.42	23.23		6.77	24.84
Courtney Walsh	869	66.67	14.06	8.17	22.23		3.71	24.41
Waqar Younis	647	49.97	14.71	7.07	21.78		4.31	25.13
Derek Underwood	1109	81.20	12.45	9.01	21.46		3.18	21.72
Curtly Ambrose	568	45.42	14.33	6.74	21.07		4.94	23.73
Alec Bedser	485	43.79	14.45	6.62	21.06		5.15	23.74
Michael Holding	499	42.24	14.48	6.50	20.98		6.09	22.88
Bishan Bedi	442	36.70	13.78	6.06	19.83		4.36	23.19
Allan Donald	776	53.27	12.43	7.30	19.73		2.67	22.18
Dennis Lillee	340	28.63	14.29	5.35	19.64		4.52	24.05
Glenn McGrath	513	36.01	12.93	6.00	18.93		1.39	24.48
B.S. Chandrasekhar	253	19.59	12.50	4.43	16.93		1.14	23.94
Jeff Thomson	286	18.81	11.12	4.34	15.46		4.01	18.22
Lasith Malinga	669	36.87	8.58	6.07	14.66		2.13	15.05
Lance Gibbs	384	22.26	9.21	4.72	13.93		2.20	16.23

A few of the bowlers could be all-rounders by the standard I outlined above. I felt, though, that their production didn’t merit that sort of classification. Offense among bowlers varies a lot more than defense among batsmen, so their ability to hit plays a bigger role in their final rating.

Muralitharan gets hit the hardest by the one-day format. His first-class defensive average is 38.29; in List A matches, it’s 19.69 … half. And that is entirely due to not being able to bowl more than 20 percent of his team’s overs. But he only played 233 first-class matches, compared to 453 one-day matches, and another 164 in Twenty20. He was still a star, but the conditions in which he played prevented him from really dominating like he could have.

Glenn McGrath comes in really low. Partly, this is due to his abysmally low offensive average; just as a bowler, he outranks several of the people above him. He also played very little outside Tests and ODIs; he was essentially a full-time Australia cricketer. This meant two things: He had the best defense in the world behind him, and he never had to face Australian batsmen.

Wicketkeepers	Matches	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Kumar Sangakkara	1043	118.58	19.08	10.89	29.97		30.79	7.37
Adam Gilchrist	647	71.90	17.74	8.48	26.22		20.31	15.18
Andy Flower	624	60.38	16.08	7.77	23.85		25.49	6.67
Alec Stewart	954	85.20	14.47	9.23	23.70		22.07	6.88
Jim Parks	871	79.19	14.76	8.90	23.66		23.10	6.42
Rod Marsh	446	38.15	14.57	6.18	20.75		16.00	13.13
Alan Knott	856	61.63	12.60	7.85	20.45		14.73	10.46
Jeff Dujon	411	30.75	13.43	5.55	18.98		17.50	9.36
Ian Healy	443	31.73	12.51	5.63	18.15		12.13	12.90

Pity the wicketkeepers. Even more than baseball catchers, their own job destroys them. The top three are anomalies; Flower was the only world-class player on an emerging Zimbabwe team, Gilchrist a one-day basher and Sangakkara a quantum leap forward. Behind them, though, it’s pretty sparse.

To do list:

Hashim Amla
Andy Roberts
Alex Kennedy
Wes Hall
Bob Willis
Sonny Ramadhin
Gilbert Jessop
Alf Valentine