A cricket team comprises of batters, bowlers, wicketkeepers, and all-rounders. Specialist batters do the bulk of the scoring for their team, whereas the bowlers are tasked with dismissing the batters of the opposition. All-rounders contribute to both domains.
A batter’s style of play can be attacking or defensive based on their skill level and how they adapt to the conditions. A batter’s expertise may also be rated based on the type of bowler they face. While some batters find comfort in facing pace bowlers, some others find it easier to score runs against spinners.
Apart from the behavior of the ball after pitching, bowlers can also be categorised based on the pace at which they bowl. Accordingly, there are fast pace, medium pace, and slow pace bowlers. Usually, most bowlers resort to either pace-only or spin-only type of bowling throughout their career.
Bowlers can master the skill of pace or spin bowling while making adjustments to their bowling style across their career. However, there are some bowlers who have over a period of time bowled spin in some matches, and pace in others. These are referred as mixed bag bowlers.
Mixed bag bowlers may not necessarily be skilled wickettakers. But due to the range of bowling variations they exhibit, they can comfortably bowl both spin and pace in different matches throughout their career. Mixed bag bowlers are rare in international cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar and Garry Sobers are the most notable examples of mixed bag bowlers. Tendulkar began his bowling career as a medium pace bowler before switching to leg break and off break styles in the second half of his career. Sobers on the other hand changed his bowling style from a medium-fast pace bowler to an orthodox, and later an unorthodox bowler. Such bowlers are this also known as all-round bowlers.
