Ian Botham, or Stuart Metcalfe? You will know one of them but the two are forever linked by a cricketing bond – they were both brilliant all-rounders.
The only reason you haven’t hear of Metcalfe is that he once played for my team at Sale Boys’ Grammar School in Manchester. And although he probably works in IT now, Metcalfe once took all ten wickets in a match and scored 50 runs.
The Mazda is a great all-rounder too. It’s not especially brilliant at anything but it does everything you ask of it very well. It looks good, drives well and is very comfortable.
The trouble with all-rounders is that it’s hard to offer up a unique selling point. The VW Golf is the best all-rounder I can think off – the Botham of the hatchback world. The Mazda3 is better than a Metcalfe, probably more likely to be found surfing the edge of international cricket than playing in the first team…
