When Ben Stokes induced Mitchell Santner to glove a bouncer at Trent Bridge, he entered rarefied ground. Only three other men – Jacques Kallis, Kapil Dev and Ian Botham – have both scored 5,000 Test runs and taken 250 wickets, a treatment to Stokes's standing as a Test-match all-rounder.

The label of Test all-rounder is often used but little understood. Rather than brilliant batsmen who also bowled usefully, or elite bowlers who contributed lower-order runs, an all-rounder should be understood as a player who batted regularly in the top seven while contributing meaningfully enough with the ball to give their sides a five-man attack.

To qualify for inclusion in this list, players must have batted in the top seven in at least 60 per cent of Test innings, while taking at least 1.5 wickets per match on average. This criterion ensures that eligible players must have bowled regularly while predominantly batting in the middle order or above, fitting within the classical understanding of an all-rounder.

A series of extraordinary cricketers – Ravichandran Ashwin, Alan Davidson, Shaun Pollock and, most gallingly, Sir Richard Hadlee – are thus ineligible. But they do not quite fit within the idea of a Test all-rounder as someone who bats in the top seven; even Hadlee classed himself "as a bowler who bats". These men below, whose careers span from 1906 to the present day, can be considered the best all-rounders of all time, of those who played at least 25 Tests.

No one has done more than Shakib to help Bangladesh rise from having their status questioned to being an established part of the Test family. For vast swathes of his career, Shakib was simultaneously his country's best batsman and bowler, combining brisk left-arm spin with stylish left-handed batting.

Great Shakib performances have been a common thread in Bangladesh's Test victories. Against Australia at Mirpur in 2017, Shakib made 84 in the first innings, then took five-wicket hauls in both innings to bowl Bangladesh to a 20-run win: their first Test triumph over Australia.

Combining batting and bowling excellence is a Shakib hallmark. He both scored a fifty and took a five-wicket haul in 10 Tests, second only to Sir Ian Botham. And his skills have transferred happily overseas: Shakib has made two centuries, including a 217, in New Zealand, and took six for 99 in a Test in South Africa. Such performances only made his one-year suspension for failing to report a corrupt approach all the sadder.

The lone Test cricketer in history to average more than 40 with the bat and under 30 with the ball while taking at least one wicket per Test. Yet such statistical acclaim barely conveys Aubrey Faulkner's brilliance as a daring, counter-attacking stroke-maker and member of the South African googly-bowling quartet in the early 20th century. He was the single most important factor in South Africa developing into a side who could beat England and Australia.

On debut, Faulkner took six wickets in the match against England in Johannesburg; South Africa secured their first Test win. Faulkner's 732 runs – mostly made from No 3 – in a five-match series in Australia in 1910-11 helped South Africa to their first away Test match victory. Australians purred that no overseas batsman had ever played so well Down Under.

His batting and bowling could combine in the superhero style beloved of all-rounders. Against England in Johannesburg in 1910, Faulkner hit 78 and then, with South Africa floundering, thrashed 123 in under three hours to set a target of 244. Faulkner ensured that they did not get there, taking eight wickets in the match with his leg-breaks to bowl South Africa to a 19-run victory.

A cricketer of astounding resilience to go with his abundant skill. Such qualities came together in how Stokes reacted to early setbacks in his career – above all the 2017 Bristol incident – and orchestrated one of England's most unlikely wins, at Headingley in 2019. This innings illustrated Stokes's shrewdness and remarkable range: he scored three from his first 73 balls, 58 from his next 101 and then, when he had only Jack Leach for company, looted 74 from his last 45, including a reverse slog sweep over point off Nathan Lyon.

Rightly, Stokes is primarily considered a batsman. Four centuries against both Australia and South Africa – including a staggering 258 at Cape Town – illustrate his relish for fast bowling. Yet Stokes is also a supremely versatile bowler. Often cast as the enforcer, Stokes generates pronounced swing and reverse swing alike, to go with his relish for bowling long spells. Had his batting not been so valuable, he might have been a fine opening bowler.

Compared to some in this company, Stokes suffers from his record against the best teams of his era, preventing him from being ranked higher. In 54 Tests against Australia or India, Stokes averages 30.5 with the bat and 32.3 with the ball. In 28 Tests away to the pair, he averages 26.3 and 35 – and England have only won three.

But, for all his feats with bat and ball, as well as his effervescent fielding, perhaps Stokes's greatest contribution has been as captain. Taking over a moribund side who had won one out of 17 Tests, Stokes has led England to 22 wins and 12 defeats in his first 36 Tests, and all while playing in a buccaneering style.

From 2013 until New Zealand's visit this year, India won a record 18 consecutive home series. During this sequence, India played 53 Test matches at home, won 42 (including 16 by an innings) and lost just four.

Jadeja was the greatest single reason for this astounding run: a player comfortably good enough to bat in the top six while also being a front-line bowler. At home, Jadeja averages 20.9 with the ball, taking nearly five wickets per Test. Some complain that he has benefited from doctored pitches; the trouble with this argument is that Jadeja averages 38.5 with the bat in India. He is also his country's greatest fielder, combining athleticism with pinpoint throwing.

Jadeja can often be overlooked, perhaps because his spin bowling is less mysterious than that of Ravichandran Ashwin. Yet the tendency to downplay his bowling as mere left-arm darts overlooks Jadeja's subtle tweaks in flight and pace as well as his unrelenting accuracy. India long preferred him to Ashwin away from home. 

Jadeja made crucial contributions, with bat and ball alike, to India's consecutive series victories in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21. His batting is so accomplished that India could essentially pick him as a specialist batsman abroad – like in England, where Jadeja averaged 86 last summer. 

A revolutionary figure, even discounting his role in the 1983 World Cup and the surge of one-day cricket. Aged 15, Dev attended an India under-19 coaching camp. He complained about only being fed two dry chapattis and a spoonful of vegetables for lunch; to bowl fast, he said, you needed more. "There are no fast bowlers in India," Keki Tarapore, the board official at the camp, chuntered in response.

Tarapore's observation was scarcely wrong. No Indian quick had ever taken 100 Test wickets, but Dev vaulted past this landmark in just 16 months, combining swing, pace and a fierce bouncer. These qualities came together when, with a patched-up thigh, Dev took five for 28 at Melbourne in 1981. It was India's first victory over a full-strength Australia away from home.

Where some all-rounders have the luxury of not being over-bowled, Dev had a specialist's load throughout his career: only in two out of 227 Test innings did he not take the new ball. As such, he could bat in the classical spirit of an all-rounder, knowing that he did not need runs to retain his place in the team.

If the results were inconsistent they were often spectacular, too. At Lord's in 1990, Dev thrashed four consecutive sixes to save the follow-on. He also hit two centuries at better than a run a ball against West Indies, as part of a terrific record against the best team of the age. In 25 Tests against West Indies, Dev averaged 30.8 with the bat and just 24.9 with the ball.

Few cricketers have ever matched the force of Botham. He did not even consider his 149 not out at Headingley in 1981, perhaps English cricket's most celebrated innings of them all, his best knock of the series. Botham reserved that accolade for his 118 at Old Trafford two Tests later. Three times Dennis Lillee bowled bouncers at his nose; each time Botham's hook cleared fine leg for six. In the Test in between, at Edgbaston, Botham's fourth-innings spell of five for one in 28 deliveries secured another turnaround victory.

This mesmerising sequence embodied Botham's capacity to combine his best batting and bowling. Nobody has both scored a half-century and taken a five-wicket haul in more Tests than Botham's 11. Bombay in 1980 was Botham in excelsis: taking six for 58 and seven for 48 with rapid outswing bowling, either side of slamming 114. In 26 Tests under Mike Brearley's captaincy, Botham averaged 41.36 with the bat and took 150 wickets at an average of 18.76.

A hurricane of a cricketer, captivating whether on the field or off. "A cavalier in a world of roundheads," England player John Warr called Miller, who notoriously loathed arriving at a ground more than 15 minutes before play began.

It is a myth that Miller did not mind losing. But although Miller's debonair personality concealed his fierce competitiveness, he regarded his role both to win and to entertain. "Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your a---," Miller said. "Playing cricket is not."

Miller was such a complete Test cricketer that he could both bat at No 3 and take the new ball, in which he formed one of the most lethal opening partnerships with Ray Lindwall. Sir Len Hutton considered Miller to have "the perfect action", such was the pace and swing he generated from a short run-up. In the first Ashes Test after the Second World War, Miller's seven for 60 skittled England. A decade later, aged 36, Miller took 10 wickets in a Test victory at Lord's.

If his Test batting average in England, 24.4, was modest, even this relative underperformance added to the Miller legend. He was, it was said, distracted by a liaison with Princess Margaret.

Statistically, almost a clone of Sir Garfield Sobers. Stylistically, the contrast was unmistakeable – Kallis attracted a strange amount of criticism for such a great cricketer and was derided as a cold automaton. Such comments seemed bizarre to South Africans, who celebrated Kallis's gargantuan run-scoring – 45 Test centuries, second only to Sachin Tendulkar's 51 – brisk outswing, bucket hands at slip and remarkable longevity.

Kallis had formidable concentration, as demonstrated by his maiden Test century, where he batted for nearly six hours on the last day in Melbourne in 1997, defying Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Yet he was also a batsman of range and quick thinking. When South Africa faced defeat to India at 2011 in Newlands, with the series locked at 1-1, Kallis unfurled several reverse sweeps for four against off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, to force India to protect the vacant off-side. With the field spread, Kallis then cruised to a century.

Kallis was often described as a reluctant bowler; it is true that his average of 1.76 wickets a Test is the lowest of any member of this list. Yet he was the consummate fourth seamer, with the capacity to be much more when his team needed. At Leeds in 2003, an injury to a specialist quick forced Kallis to be used much more than normal. Combining sharp swing with the occasional bouncer, Kallis took nine for 92 in the match in South Africa's win. Ricky Ponting spoke for many when he described Kallis as "Australia's No 1 opponent".

"A skinny boy with an unruly mop of hair," is how Sunil Gavaskar remembered the young Imran Khan. But, during a period out of the Pakistan side, Imran bulked up and gained pace. Lethal with the new ball, he also became one of the first great practitioners of reverse swing, which he used to decimate India in 1982-83, taking 40 wickets at 14 apiece. His batting style was adaptable – by turns aggressive and adhesive, depending on Pakistan's needs.

For such a strong personality, leadership was as natural as a surfer riding the waves. "I am convinced that unless a captain can lead from the front, he cannot inspire his team to fight," Imran said. In 48 Tests as captain, spanning from 1982 to his retirement in 1992, Imran averaged 52.3 with the bat and 20.3 with the ball – a prolonged period of all-round excellence unmatched in Test history.

The greatest testament to Imran's qualities came during the mesmerising clashes between Pakistan and West Indies from 1986-90. All three series were drawn 1-1, with arguably only the lack of neutral umpires stopping Pakistan from winning 2-0 in the Caribbean in 1988.

West Indies were the greatest team of this age or indeed any other. Across the nine Tests in these three series, Imran hit 356 runs at 32.4 and took 45 wickets at 14.9. Whether taking 11 for 121 in the victory in Guyana in 1988, or surviving unbeaten for 162 balls on the final day in Lahore in 1990 to ensure a draw, Imran, more than any other cricketer of the age, had West Indies' measure.

"Evolution's ultimate specimen in cricketers," as he was termed by the Australian writer Ray Robinson. Garfield Sobers combined breathtaking, aggressive batting with the durability to score 365 not out against Pakistan aged 21, a Test record that would endure for 36 years. He also bowled in three different styles – left-arm pace, often taking the new ball, and both orthodox and wrist spin – and fielded electrically. And all while embracing nocturnal activities, though Sobers' embrace of the good life should not obscure the adroitness of his cricketing brain.

The purest distillation of Sobers' capabilities came in the English summer of 1966. In five Tests, he scored 722 runs at 103.14, snared 20 wickets at 27.25 each, took 10 catches and captained to boot.

"I seem to have spent a lot of time, this summer, sitting in front of the TV watching Garfield Sobers," the English playwright JB Priestley wrote. "Always I have stared at him out of a mixture of apprehension and admiration. He frightened me and enchanted me by turns. Batting, bowling, fielding, captaining his side, he seemed to be pronouncing, often with a grin, the doom of the England XI."