I consider Kapil Dev to be in a slightly lower rung than Imran, Botham and Hadlee but surely he is much much above the league of Cairns. I think he is certainly in the Dravid, Kallis league in the comparison you drew if Botham and Imran were in the Lara, Richards league. But then you are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.
I know that it is eventually going to end up being a neck to neck battle between Imran and Botham for that allrounder spot with Kapil falling short by a smaller margin than you would imagine, Maranello.

Edit: BTW why isn't Hadlee included in this list??, i just noticed.! Not done enough with the bat with the bat you reckon, Phantom?

Completely agree - hence my reference to the 1982 series. The other relevant fact is that Imran's peak performance was not only higher than Botham's, he was also able to sustain it for far longer (~10 year) compared to Botham (~5 years).

__________________
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes
Mark Twain

You are right, he probably did do enough with the bat, and I asked on one of the other threads how close to being classed as all rounders are Warne, Hadlee and Marshall. That said I can't see any of them batting at 6.

__________________
Steven

I think as the poll indicates Imran Khan and Ian Botham are up in the stratasphere in a class of their own