Shane Watson vs James Faulkner: Who is the better all-rounder?

Watson may be the classier all-rounder, but the numbers speak for themselves.

While Shane Watson’s prolonged bout of poor form is hampering Australia, James Faulkner is fast emerging as one of their best limited-overs players. Shiamak Unwalla crunches the numbers and tries to find out who the better all-rounder really is.

For a team that were World Champions for about a decade, Australia managed to sustain themselves without a world-class pace-bowling all-rounder in the mix. They had the likes of Steve Waugh and Andrew Symonds, but they could rarely be accused of bowling fast.

All that changed when Shane Watson came along. Though he was unable to cement his spot in the team — in part due to his numerous injuries — there was no denying that, when fully fit, Australia had a man who could win them matches with either bat or ball.

However, over a decade into his international career, Watson’s promise remains largely unfulfilled. His talent is there for all to see; from slamming a record-breaking 185 not out against Bangladesh to grabbing five for 17 and routing South Africa, Watson showed glimpses of what he was capable of. And yet, his statistics are underwhelming for a player of his skill:

He clearly prefers the shorter formats; a batting average of 40.6 in ODIs at a strike rate of 89.9 is excellent by any stretch. Add to that his 164 wickets and he shows that he is a more-than handy limited-overs cricketer. His bowling average and strike rate are both on the higher side, but are good enough for the fifth bowler’s role.

On the other hand — and at quite a different plane — lays James Faulkner; a man who was always considered a prospect with the ball, but whose batting was hardly ever rated. Faulkner made his debut in 2013, long after the air of invincibility had faded from the Australian team.

He showed that he was no mug with the bat in only his second ODI, where he scored a composed 39 against West Indies at Perth; but it was against India at Mohali in 2013 that he truly gave an example of his destructive power when he scored a break-neck 29-ball 64 not out — including 30 in one game-changing over off Ishant Sharma. He followed it up with an unbelievable 116 at No. 7 that nearly took the game away from India after Rohit Sharma’s 209.

Faulkner is also a terrific bowler; after all he made his way into the side as a new-ball bowler who could also contain at the death. His batting certainly adds a new dimension to his game, but his bowling is what got him selected to begin with. A quick look at his statistics will suggest that he is not only at par with Watson in the bowling department, but outstrips him with bat in hand.

While Faulkner’s bowling record is comparable with Watson’s, his batting average and strike rate are both superior to that of the senior all-rounder. Undeniably, Faulkner’s batting record has benefitted from as many as eight not-outs in 12 innings while batting second. But that brings out an entirely different facet to his batting: the ability to chase down totals.

Below is a table showing the top five batsmen in terms of batting average in the second innings in ODIs, with a qualification of 400 runs:

As seen above, Faulkner is overwhelmingly at the top of the list. His average is a mind-boggling 109.5, higher than that of even Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, each of whom have a reputation of being tremendous finishers.

All three of Faulkner’s fifties, as well as his century, came while batting second. As things stand, he is probably the best possible option to have coming in toward the latter part of the innings. While Glenn Maxwell has the reputation of hitting the big sixes, it is Faulkner who does the job for Australia more often than not.

Watson may be the classier all-rounder, but the numbers speak for themselves. Faulkner is perhaps not considered among the best all-rounders in ODI cricket, but he is showing every time he plays that he is someone opposing teams ought to be very, very wary of. Come the ICC World Cup 2015, he might just add another feather to his cap.

(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and cricket fanatic. You can follow him on Twitter @ShiamakUnwalla)

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