The year 2013 will be remembered for the retirement of some great cricketers: Mike Hussey, Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Swann and now Jacques Kallis.
Tendulkar’s 200th and final Test in Mumbai last month was a Hollywood-Bollywood extravaganza and was over the top.
Swann’s was oh so sudden. Like Hussey’s after the Sydney Test this January, Kallis’s farewell in the Durban Test against India is understated.
Just as Tendulkar is often compared with Sir Donald Bradman, the greatest batsman ever, Kallis is often compared with Sir Garry Sobers, the greatest all time all-rounder.
In the Cape Town Test of January 2007, Kallis became the second all-rounder after West Indies icon Sobers to achieve the Test triple of 8000 runs, 200 wickets and 100 catches.
If Kallis takes one catch in the current Durban Test, he will become the only cricketer to achieve the Test triple of 10,000 runs, 200 wickets and 200 catches.
Statistically, as at 25 December 2013, their statistics appear similar.
Player Tests Runs Average 100s Wickets Average 5w/ Catches
Garry Sobers 93 8032 57.78 26 235 34.03 6 109
Jacques Kallis 165 13174 55.12 44 292 32.53 199
Only Tendulkar has hit more Test centuries (51 in 200 Tests) than Kallis.
Also Kallis is the first to the one-day international (ODI) triple of 10,000 runs, 200 wickets and 100 catches, having amassed 11,574 runs at 44.86, 273 wickets at 31.79 and 129 catches in 325 ODIs.
As Sobers played only one one-day international, we cannot compare the two in the shortened version of the game but at Test level they have run neck and neck.
However, in personality and flamboyance they are poles apart.
Sobers was an extrovert left-hander who oozed crowd appeal and put entertainment above statistics. Without trying to be unkind to Kallis, the right-hander craves for averages rather than accolades.
He guarded his wicket as a fortress á la Trevor Bailey, Bill Lawry, Geoff Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar.
Not that Kallis was selfish, his long tenures at the pitch saved many matches for his team. He preferred ruthless efficiency to adventurous hitting.
And no one can even approach Sobers’s three-in-one bowling style which has put him in a class of his own as an all-rounder.
Although not as different as chalk and cheese, Sobers and Kallis represented different varieties of cheese.
On figures and usefulness for his country, Kallis could be termed the leading all-rounder of the day with his away swingers at about 135 km per hour and sharp slip fielding supplementing his no frills batting at number three or four.
After a tentative start in Test cricket as a 20 year-old in 1995, he made his mark in the Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan in October 1997 when he scored 61. This Test was watched by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate Pakistan’s 50th anniversary.
Then in the first Test against Australia in Melbourne two months later, he scored a match-saving 101 in the second innings. Needing 381 runs to win in 122 overs, South Africa managed to survive, thanks to Kallis’s maiden Test century.
His patient innings contained many stylish drives as he ignored a volley of sledging by the frustrated opponents. His stolid defence earned him the man of the match award.
In Sydney in the next match he became Shane Warne’s 300th Test victim.
Although he hit 44 Test centuries, he remembers his 87 against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2000 with pride as it resulted in a surprise win for his country.
Earlier South Africa had lost the first Test in Galle by an innings (ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claiming 13 wickets) and crowd came for the second Test in Kandy in droves to see their country clinch the rubber.
Instead, South Africa delivered a knock-out blow on the fourth day to square the series. It was a cliffhanger as the tourists won by seven runs. Trailing by 55 runs in the first innings, South Africa was in trouble at 3 for 50.
But a typical fighting innings from Kallis in four hours on a difficult pitch with a quirky bounce gave them a whiff of success. Sri Lanka needed only 177 to win the Test and the series but lost both the openers Marvan Atapattu and skipper Sanath Jayasuriya for ducks.
They never recovered from this horror start and lost.
After scoring back-to-back centuries in ODIs within two days in June 2003 he said that he was happy because it would boost his father’s morale as he fought cancer.
Usually Kallis showed little emotion after scoring a century, not even after recording his first double century against England in The Oval Test of August 2003. He had batted for seven hours for his 200 and was probably too exhausted to lift and twirl his bat around!
The season 2003-04 proved to be very successful for Kallis when he became only the second player in Test history after Don Bradman to score centuries in five successive Tests.
This was his amazing run sequence against the West Indies: 158 and 44; 177; 73 and 130 not out followed by 130 not out.
Then in his next series against New Zealand he made 92 and 150 not out in Hamilton to complete five centuries in five Tests. He was going for his sixth consecutive ton in Auckland but could make only 40 and 71.
Just 29 more runs in the second innings and he would have equalled Bradman’s record of six hundreds in six Tests. However, in five consecutive Tests in 2003-04, he had amassed 954 runs at 190.80.
Although labelled a slowcoach, he hit the fastest Test fifty by number of balls faced. This was against Zimbabwe in Cape Town in March 2005 when he reached his 50 off 24 balls. Pakistan’s big hitter Shahid Afridi comes next with a 26 ball fifty.
To me, Kallis’ best bowling feat was against the West Indies in the Bridgetown Test of March-April 2002 when he took 6 for 67 and 2 for 34. It was a controversial match which South Africa should have won but for some blatant time-wasting tactics by the home team.
Kallis is one of few cricketers to have scored a century and taken five wickets in an innings in the same Test twice.
The Cape Town Test of January 1999 is remembered as Kallis’ Test. He confirmed himself as an all-rounder when he became only the eighth player in Test history to score both a century and a fifty and take five wickets in an innings in the same match.
South Africa won the toss and batted but opener Gary Kirsten was out to the first ball off Curtly Ambrose and in walked Kallis to face some chin music.
He made 110 and added 235 runs for the third wicket with Daryll Cullinan. Kallis took 2 for 34 as his team led by 194 runs.
He remained not out with 88 in the second knock as skipper ‘Hansie’ Cronje declared, and he narrowly missing the distinction of hitting two tons in a match. Kallis captured 5 for 90 to enable South Africa to win the Test and lead 3-0 in the series.
Man of the match Kallis was on the field for all but four hours of the match, having batted for 12 hours and bowled 42.4 overs.
Mark Boucher compared Kallis’s bowling to Pakistani Wasim Akram’s.
He wrote in The Wisden Cricketer – South Africa edition: “To me, the key to Jacques’s performance as a bowler is his change of pace. Wasim Akram was brilliant at that. He was very difficult to line-up by batsmen. The same is true of Kallis, he can suddenly turn on the heat and bowl at 140 km per hour.”
In 2005 he was honoured as ICC’s Test and overall Player of the Year after all-round performances against the West Indies and England. “Until the emergence of Andrew Flintoff, he was by some distance the leading all-rounder in the world game, capable of swinging the ball sharply at surprising pace off a relaxed run-up,” wrote Cricinfo.
On the Australian tour in 2005-06, he had problems facing Brett Lee’s pace-like-fire in the Melbourne Test.
But he made a patient 111 in the first innings of the Sydney Test in January 2006. His slow unbeaten fifty in the second innings perhaps cost South Africa the match which is remembered for Australian captain Ricky Ponting registering centuries in both innings in his 100th Test.
In the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies he amassed 485 runs (highest for South Africa and fifth highest in the tournament) at 80.83.
His run sequence was 128 not out, 48, 86, 66 not out, 32, 81, 22, 17 not out and 5. But he failed against champion Australia in both the Super-8 and in the semi final and his sluggish approach at the crease drew criticism.
However, the words of Brian Lara must have comforted Kallis. The West Indian legend said “If you want someone to bat for your life, you get Jacques Kallis to bat for your life.”
Encouraged, he was at his supreme best against Pakistan in October 2007, hitting three centuries in two Tests.
In Karachi he stroked 155 and an unbeaten 100 as his country won by 160 runs and followed with 59 and 107 not out in Lahore the following week and was adjudged man of the match for both the Tests and Player of the Series.
In his next two Tests, against New Zealand he continued his prolific run-getting, 29 and 186 in Johannesburg and 131 in Centurion. Thus he totalled 767 runs in four consecutive Tests at an astounding average of 153.40.
Raved Osman Samiuddin in The Wisden Cricketer (UK), “The first [century in Karachi] was the best, a Kallis displaced from his bubble, Kallis as entertainer… Key wickets and a stunning slip catch or two added another layer.”
Neither pace nor spin bothered the burly Jacques ‘Woogie’ Kallis. Nor did top quality batsmen or critics who doubted his all-round ability.
As former colleague Boucher tweetd this week, “And the Test cricketing world says goodbye to another legend, if not the greatest… Cheers ‘Woogie’! U will be missed.”
Added AB de Villiers, “Jacques Henry Kallis, we salute you, #legend #Kingkallis.”
And so say all of us.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
All these stats and a century in his final Test innings too. Also a Test and series win for his country! Kallis, you are a legend. Did you see the presentation after the Durban Test victory for South Africa learly this morning [Sydney time] and the farewell ovation to "King" Kallis? A supremo among all-rounders. Third highest run-scorer in Tests (after Tendulkar and Ponting), second highest catch-taker (after Dravid) and 292 wickets as well.
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Well you're probably Australian so I'd say none. None of Ricky Ponting 100's stand out to me because I couldn't care less. I can't recall one! Yet I recall many of Kallis's....... Tit for tat really. It depends on which team you support.
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Jack where are you sucking this garbage from?? Out of the players who've scored over 10000 runs Kallis has the second highest average behind Sangakkara (just). Better than Tendulkar, Ponting, Dravid, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara, Chanderpaul, Allan Border, Jayawardene and Gavaskar etc. Bearfax and DanUK also quoted real facts above .... So I don't need to continue down that route. And that's just his batting record! It's amazing how perception shapes some people's opinions....... Then they get hit for 6 with REAL facts and stats. Kallis was better than all of them. Stats tell the story. Finished.
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Cool. And yes I agree with you. It's very frustrating that the 2nd most successful Test team's players over history (since 1888/89) are not recognized by the international cricket board or cricket "Hall of Fame" more than they are. We only have 2 players on the ICC Cricket Hall of fame. Only TWO!!!!!!! On a list dominated by English, Australian and West Indian players, yet we have a better record than England and the West Indies and have been playing Test cricket almost as long as Australia and England have, only 12 years less. And far longer than the West Indies, 39 years longer and 43 years longer than India!! Yes we did not play Test cricket in the 70's and 80's but there were plenty other years to pick from ! :-) It's shocking!! The ICC should be embarrassed.
Jacques Kallis in his first 22 tests up to 1998 December only averaged 30, in six matches and 11 innings against Australia in those first 3 years he averaged only 23 with but one century. Since then he has completed an additional 44 innings against Australia at an average of 46.28. You could say it took him 3 years to establish himself as a top tier test batsman. His average since 1999 is 59.26 nearly double his average in the first three years of his test career.
Bearfax
Guest
Actually Jack, it was tendulkar who played more of the minnows to up his averages than Kallis. If we consider Zimbabwe and Bangladesh as the minnows of the test arena Tendulkar played in 329 innings Zimbabwe for 14 innings and Bangladesh 11 innings, which was 7.6 % of the innings played. Kallis played Zimbabwe on only 7 innings and Bangladesh 7 innings out of 280 which was 5 % of his innings played. The only other lower side, New Zealand, Kallis played 13.9% of his innings against and Tendulkar 13.1%. In reality Tendulkar played more of the lower sides than Kallis over his career. The test careers against England were Kallis 18.9% while Tendulkar was 17%. But against Australia it was the reverse with Tendulkar playing 21.6% of his innings against Oz to Kallis' 20%. Tendulkar played more tests on average against Sri Lanka but less against West Indies on average than Kallis. And Tendulkar played more percentage wise against South Africa than Kallis against India. The comparisons between the two giants is quite close in games played and in teams they played against. But the reality was that Tendulkar played percentage wise more innings against the lower sides than Kallis.
Bearfax
Guest
Actually Jack, it was tendulkar who played more of the minnows to up his averages than Kallis. If we consider Zimbabwe and Bangladesh as the minnows of the test arena Tendulkar played in 329 innings Zimbabwe for 14 innings and Bangladesh 11 innings, which was 7.6 % of the innings played. Kallis played Zimbabwe on only 7 innings and Bangladesh 7 innings out of 280 which was 5 % of his innings played. The only other lower side, New Zealand, Kallis played 13.9% of his innings against and Tendulkar 13.1%. In reality Tendulkar played more of the lower sides than Kallis over his career.
DanUK
Guest
According to ESPN stats Kallis's average vs Australia is 41 overall and 48 in Aus. Tendulkar is 55 vs Aus overall (not 60) and 53 in Aus. Kallis's highest average is vs Zimbabwe (169) and lowest vs Aus (41), Tendulkar's highest is vs Bangladesh (136) and his lowest is vs Pakistan (and then SA) both at 42. I cannot see the vast difference in the stats your logic implies, i.e. that Kallis is good against the minnows and Tendulkar was great against the best attacks, unless you mean that anyone except Australia is/were weak. Statistically Kallis is weakest against Australia, so maybe he is afraid, however in the last series in Australia he averaged 53, with one hundred and one fifty, hardly scar tissue stuff
Jack
Guest
Kallis average vs Australia is 40. Tendulkar's is 60. Kallis's average increases over Tendulkar's as the opposition becomes weaker and having played more teams at the lower end of world rankings over the years, it's understandable. The south Africans over the years have played local minnows in preparation for tests against Australia and England and a wonderful stat building opportunity. Personally, I have a feeling Kallis doesn't want to finish his career having to confront the current Australian pace attack and if the next 2 test series were against Zimbabwe and West Indies, the great man would be there.
ak
Roar Guru
Kapil Dev was a better batsman than Imran Khan. Thats because throughout his career Kapil played with bowling being his primary role. Imran though in the later stage of his career played as a batsman. An allrounder is one who performs both roles in one match. So since Imran played as a batsman in the later stages he could concentrate more on his batting which led to his final batting average to go upto 37. Since he had almost quit bowling, his bowling average of 22 did not suffer during this period. Kapil had to take the bullwork for a major part of his career with no steady bowling partner. Imran had Sarfaraz whereas Kapil had revolving bowling partners like Ghavri, Madan Lal, Chetan Sharma, Prabhakar etc. Also Kapil probably was carefree and at times careless while batting which led to him throwing his wicket away rather than the bowler earning it. Ofcourse that is neither an excuse nor a defence for his lesser average of 31. However averages do not tell the right story always. Kapil whenever he was at the crease looked fluent. He had all the shots in the book. What he lacked was application. That was actually the reason why he was dropped for one test, the only one he missed in his entire career. However if pure batting is to be considered then he was a better batsman than Imran. If anyone watches Kapil's memorable innings with those of Imran's it would be easy to conclude that Kapil was more fluent. In short Imran was more consistent but when on song Kapil was ahead. Also Kapil scored quite briskly as well not just in India but wherever he went. Kapil's batting was a joy to watch.
Bearfax
Guest
Look forward to your full assessment Sheek. Should be interesting. I was just shaving the surface with my comparisons. I note your comment about Hadley and certainly on his day Hadley was almost unplayable and he was one of the truly great all rounders. But his bowling average was on a par with Imran and Miller, and his batting significantly poorer. This is where perception judgement I believe has to take second place to stats. I saw a lot more of Hadlee than Imran and I saw almost nothing of Miller. The danger is that the familiarity of Hadlee endangers me in colouring my perspective. That's why I give more weight to stats than what I see...
Bearfax
Guest
Rhino I meant no disrespect for South Africa in that comment at all. What I was trying to get across is that when discussing top players, South African players are often left out of the mix and yet some of them were seriously outstanding players and perhaps a few the best and still are. Competitively they have always been one of the best teams in the cricket world but perhaps partly because of the Apartheid bans between 1970-1991, South Africa has struggled to maintain its place and authority in the world of cricket. Even despite the wealth of talent they have had, in the recent Wisden Team of the century (though I think some of the selections were a joke), there were 4 English, 3 West Indians, 2 Australians, and one Indian and Pakistani. There were no Kiwis. But more importantly there were no South Africans. Seems to me that South Africa despite being one of the prominent cricket sides has failed to gain the recognition it deserves and tends to be an afterthought internationally. That's what I meant by 'backwater'.
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Bearfax what on earth on you talking about, "always been something of a backwater"????!!! For the first 40 plus years the only countries playing Test cricket were South Africa, Australia and England!! South Africa are the 2nd most successful Test team behind Australia in terms of winning percentage in international Test cricket over history, since their first Test played in 1889 against England. England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India are all behind them. South Africans EXPECT to beat every one, and consider Australia (until recently at least) as the only team to be better than them where they shouldn't expect to win. Well South Africans should think this way.... The statistics back this presumption up!
DanUK
Guest
I'd say given that he played in a period of probably one of the greatest Australian sides ever, and saved at least on test again that same team where a lot of other teams just failed, must count for something? To put differently, in the current Australian team would you say Watson is a better all rounder than Kallis? I suspect given their comparative stats most Australian supporters would not complain if Watson performed more like Kallis
JGK
Roar Guru
Just checked - only Waugh, Kallis, Ponting and Hayden qualify!
JGK
Roar Guru
That can't be a big field can it? Kallis, Waugh, Ponting, maybe Tendulkar and Dravid. Anyone else?
peeeko
Roar Guru
They may have more destructive but we're not as consistent, except for sobers
sheek
Roar Guru
More on Mike Procter. Back in early 1970, he captured 26 wickets in four tests against Bill Lawry's Australians at the miserly average of 13.58. This on top of his 15 wickets in three tests against Bob Simpson's 1966/67 Aussies at 17.53. That was his test career, 7 tests, 41 wickets, average, 15.02. Just for good measure during the Aussies tour of 1970, he also hit 155 for Western Province against the tourists. His five matches against the Aussies in 1970 - four tests & a tour match - provide a wonderful display of all-round cricketing prowess. 5 matches; 9 inns; one not out; 374 runs; 46.75 batting average; 155 highest score. 28 wickets; 423 runs; 15.11 bowling average; 6/73 best bowling. In 1970/71, now playing for Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), he equalled the record of both CB Fry & Sir Donald Bradman of hitting six successive first-class centuries. Admittedly, most of his centuries were made in the B section, but his 254 was made against a full strength Western Province team (whom he had played for in 1969/70). The guy could play cricket! He could bowl, & he could bat.....
Rajesh Kumar
Guest
Among the batsmen with 6,000 runs or more in a winning cause, his average of 62.01 is the second highest, next only to Steve Waugh's 69.46.
JGK
Roar Guru
Kersi, a heads up. Kallis is edging towards Dravid on the run aggregate list and with a particularly big innings could also get past Ponting.