The leading all-rounder of 2010?

We know who was the leading run-scorer in Championship cricket in 2010 – Surrey’s Mark Ramprakash with 1595 runs. We also know that Andre Adams of Nottinghamshire was the leading wicket-taker with 68 victims, whilst his colleague Chris Read was the leading wicket-keeper with 63 dismissals to his name. But what about the leading all-rounder – who was the best in 2010?

As far as run-scoring is concerned, Darren Stevens of Kent tops the list with 935 runs, closely followed by Glamorgan’s Jim Allenby with 933 runs and then James Franklin of Gloucestershire with 862 runs. Looking at it from a bowling perspective, Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid heads the listings with 57 wickets, followed by Warwickshire’s Neil Carter with 51 scalps and then Franklin again with 46 wickets.

By appearing in the top three of both the batting and bowling lists, James Franklin could lay a claim to being the country’s leading all-rounder in 2010. But is a listing of the most runs, and the greatest number of wickets the best way to indicate the success the value of a player with both bat and ball? An alternative, and long established means of assessing the all-round merits as a player – and one that can be used to determine the best all-rounder of 2010 – is to divide the player’s batting average by his bowling average. This gives true credence to a decent batting average, as well as a low bowling average

After doing this calculation, it is Robin Martin-Jenkins who emerged as the country’s best all-rounder in Championship cricket, with the Sussex man – who retired from first-class cricket towards the end of the summer to take up a teaching post – having a batting average of 62.90 and a bowling average of just 19.76.

The list below shows the top five all-rounders in Championship cricket in 2010 using this method of dividing the batting average by the bowling average: