The Cricket Statistician No 195

9 Stevens’ bowling record has continued to improve with age. Since he turned 40, on 30 April 2016, he has taken 248 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of just 19.66 2 . Only 19 bowlers have taken more first-class wickets since that date, led by Simon Harmer with 401. And of the 19, Stevens has the sixth-best average: Player Mat Wkts Ave RMGK Sirisoma 29 248 14.83 Mohammad Abbas 76 339 18.12 PM Pushpakumara 51 333 18.75 JM Anderson 70 264 19.27 TJ Murtagh 65 260 19.65 DI Stevens 64 248 19.66 This table shows how unfortunate Sirisoma (who has averaged almost nine wickets a match during this five-year period) has been not to be selected for international duty. None of these 19 prolific wicket-takers approach the 3,016 runs Stevens has scored in this time, at a healthy average of 36.33. The next best, in both aggregate and average, is Ashwin, who has scored 2,223 runs (av. 26.15). (His 338 wickets in this period have come at a cost of 24.65 each). So Stevens is not just the best current all-rounder over the age of 40: since celebrating his 40th birthday, arguably he has been the best all-rounder in first-class cricket. The genuineness of Stevens’ all-round credentials is not now in dispute. But how does he compare with other all-rounders in history? And, judged purely in statistical terms, is he the best all-rounder never to have played international cricket? Stevens has scored 4 double-centuries – with his swift 237 off 225 balls against Yorkshire in 2019 standing as his highest score – and has best bowling figures of 8-75. That in and of itself does not set him apart from other all-rounders who have never played for their country: more than 30 players have scored a double-century and taken an 8-wicket haul but have never played Test cricket. The most notable was Frank Tarrant, who scored 4 double- centuries and took eight wickets in an innings on a remarkable thirteen occasions. Other contemporary players who have achieved both feats include the Northants all-rounder Rob Keogh (highest score 221, best bowling 9-52), Imad Wasim (who has played 55 ODIs for Pakistan, but no Tests, even though he boasts a highest first-class score of 207 and best bowling figures of 8-81), the Sri Lankan Jeevan Mendis (highest score 206 not out, best bowling 9-53) – and the Indian cricketer Ramsingh Sanjay Yadav, who after just nine first- class matches has a highest score of 254 not out and has achieved innings analyses of 9-52 and 8-31. More remarkable, however, are Stevens’ all-round career figures. He is in an elite club of just 24 cricketers who have proved their genuine all-round credentials in first-class cricket over a number of years by compiling in excess of 15,000 runs averaging higher than 30 and taking more than 500 wickets at an average of less than 25, as Table B shows: 2 At Old Trafford on 6 July 2021 Stevens took his 250 th first-class wicket since turning 40. The last five bowlers to have taken 250 or more wickets since turning 40 were all spinners capped by England: John Emburey, John Childs, Eddie Hemmings, Jack Simmons and Norman Gifford (who took 503 wickets in his forties).