Cricketers Who Started Out As Bowlers But Became Successful Batsmen

1. Kevin Pietersen

Pietersen had started playing cricket when his family used to live in South Africa He used to play local cricket for a team called Kwazulu Natal as an off spinner. In one match against Nasser Hussain’s England side, he had taken 4 top order wickets and despite batting at No.9 he scored 61 not out of 57 balls which impressed Hussain. Hussain then recommended Pietersen to secure a contract with an English County Side.
A big-match player, Pietersen’s talent has come to the fore whenever England have been in rough waters. Be it pulling Brett Lee with utter disdain or shimming down the track to hit Shane Warne out of the park, the 2005 Ashes series was a heady start for Pietersen who was soon going to become the most sought-after player in English cricket.
Kevin Pietersen, who started his career as an off-spinner, fancies bowling spin now and then but has failed to match the standards that he has set for himself with the bat. He only has 17 wickets (10 in Tests, 7 in ODIs) from 240 international outings. Clearly, those figures don’t make for a very happy reading.

2. Steven Smith

                                      
Steven Smith, who was given his chance on the international stage as a specialist leggie in 2010, was used as a floating all-rounder during the disastrous Ashes series of 2010-11. He became handy with the bat to give his team good support in the batting line up. But he finally became the most important batsman in the Test series against India where he went on to make heaps of records with the willow. He became the highest run-getter of the series for Australia and attained the prestigious rank of no.1 ICC Test batsman.
In the 2010 ICC T20 World Cup, Smith had taken 11 wickets at an average of 14.11 and ended up being the 2nd highest wicket taker of the tournament. But as troubles generally arrive in a person’s life, even Smith had started to face problems with his form after he was selected in the Australian team. He was inconsistently picked in the team as he was neither good with the ball nor the bat. But as time passed by, he worked hard on his batting with his junior coach Trent Woodhill.
In a stance that’s peculiar at best, Smith takes a leg-stump guard and shuffles across while the bowler’s still in his delivery stride. Just before the ball comes out of the bowler’s arm, he takes residence around middle and off-stump and works the ball effortlessly to all parts of the ground.

                                                                                           3. Shoaib Malik                                        
Shoaib Malik too started his career as a specialized off-spinner for Pakistan.
Although he wasn’t picked in the side for the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, he essayed a fine comeback in the 2004 Asia Cup scoring heaps of runs playing an instrumental role in Pakistan’s victory.
Malik has had his moments of glory in Test cricket as well but with a technique that was found wanting in seaming conditions, he has failed to leave much of an impression in the longer format.

                                                                                            4. Cameron White                                       
Cameron White became a part of the Australian side as a leg spinner in the year 2008 against India. In the 4 Tests that he played, he took merely 5 wickets at an economy of 3.68. While his stint was not as long as he would have liked it to be, he can be proud of the fact that he has scored 2037 runs from 88 ODIs at a healthy average just under 35.