5 cricketers whose USP was their fielding

#1 Jonty Rhodes

“Is it a bird, Is it a plane? No it is Jonty Rhodes.”

You would find it difficult to judge the greatest batsman of all time. Some might say, Don Bradman, some Sachin Tendulkar and some Lara. Even in the case of bowlers you would find it hard to single out one between many like Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, Shane Warne, Muthiah Muralitharan etc but as far as fielding is concerned there is no doubt that Jonty Rhodes is the greatest fielder of all time simply because of his consistent performances as a fielder.

In the 1992 World Cup, Jonty ran out Inzamam-ul-Haq in a dramatic fashion by literally flying from point to dismantle the stumps. One of the next day newspapers read, “Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it is Jonty Rhodes.” Many people would argue that batting and bowling are the most important attributes needed in a cricketer but a fielder of Jonty’s caliber made the playing XI solely as a fielder.

Rhodes left a huge impact on every young cricketer and literally revolutionized the art of fielding. He was arguably the only man who could have fielded virtually in any position. He broke into the South African set up purely as a fielder in a side packed with superstars.

Besides being an extraordinary fielder, Rhodes was a useful lower middle-order batsman and his record proves it. The acrobatic fielder scored at an average of 35 both in Tests and ODIs.