Folklore has it that very few batsmen used their feet around against pace and spin alike, in the manner Frank Woolley did during his prime years. An electrifying batsman who loved to dominate the bowling, Woolley's batting was only half his greatness, as he was an efficient left-arm spinner too, making him one of the greatest all-rounders to have graced the game. One look at his First-class stats is sure to leave you dizzy - close to 60000 runs and over 2000 wickets in 978 appearances; numbers that are mind-boggling to say the least. But Woolley wasn't about stats alone. He made a solid impact whenever he played and that's makes him stand apart from the usual all-rounders that plied their trade.

As a batsman, Woolley was a clean striker of the ball and was particularly severe straight down the ground, using his reach to good effect against the bowlers. He had a daring approach that also had a method to the madness. He relied a lot on his hand-eye coordination and timing, despite his swiftness in footwork. As a spinner, he loved to impart flight and plenty of revs on the ball, from a classical action that was visually pleasing. Another aspect of Woolley that often goes unnoticed due to the sheer volume of his efforts with bat and ball, is his fielding. A natural athlete, he plucked over 1000 catches during his First-class careers and barring some glovemen, nobody came close in this regard. An ideal all-rounder can shine in batting, bowling and fielding, and there isn't a better example of this than Woolley.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan