In the modern age, almost all bowlers know how to hold a bat and all batsmen possess varying levels of bowling skill.
It is a different matter that many are not good enough to be used at the international level but you see a net session and everybody likes to turn his or her arm over.
Especially, given the requirement of modern-day cricket, with the onset of T20s, it is a huge advantage if you can contribute with the other skillset as well, which can turn out to be the difference between you getting picked in the playing XI and having to spend time on the bench.
Being a three-dimensional cricketer, the best you can be at batting, bowling and fielding is warranted in today's cricket. However, there was a time when if you were good enough in just one department, you could claim a spot in your side.
That said, even if you are a superb bowler in today's time, don't you worry. For example, India's Jasprit Bumrah, who is a batting rabbit, is still an automatic pick due to his bowling prowess.
One such bowler in the history of cricket who could not bat to save his life was Eric Hollies. The Warwickshire and England leg spinner finished with a mammoth 2323 first class wickets at an average of just over 20.
The tally also included the famous scalp of Don Bradman for a duck at The Oval in his final test innings in 1948. The irony is that Hollies himself saw a blob against his name in the batting sheet often as he was dismissed on zero for a total of 133 times and could muster up just 1673 runs in 616 innings at an embarrassing average of 5.00.
What is funny is that even that is bloated because of his 282 not outs. Just imagine what the number would have been, had he been dismissed a few more times.
Only seven batsmen have collected more ducks in their first class career than Hollies. The list is led by Reg Perks who has walked back after scoring nothing on 156 occasions.
Eric Hollies was born in Staffordshire and played first class cricket from 1932 to 1957. He also represented England at the test match level and played 13 test matches with the first being against West Indies in 1935. His last international match was also against West Indies in 1950.
