I was intending of starting a spreadsheet and looking first at the on disk players skills and attributes as a starting benchmark. I think I will do this on google docs and get multiple people to help add/comment on certain stats.
I think the issue is, is that skills are often set on what the person setting the skill 'thinks' that player is good at. Thing about Cricket, as with alot of sports, you may have the perfect skill set to do well, but something, somewhere (usually mental) brings through an inherent issue that causes you to perform below what others expect (for example, look at Shane Watson). As such, and agreed method of using stats and only stats over a broad time span (using diminishing returns on the more dated stats) to set players applicable skills.
Of course, when we're talking about the skills within the game, the question is can you get defined stats as particular as number of runs scored on the on side with a front foot type shot compared to runs scored on the on side with a back foot type shot.. probably not, and this is where personal 'opinion' comes in to play.
It's not easy.. but maybe we can work together to get something out there that is realistic to a degree, and even across the board.