Jacques Kallis is without doubt one of the best cricketers of his generation.
When he was in his prime, which seemed to last forever, he never looked like getting out, bowled dangerous swing and took catches galore in the slips.
Please do not tell me, though, that Kallis is the player of his generation. And don’t tell me he was as good as Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara or Ricky Ponting.
While he was clearly exceptional, in my mind his bowling offered minimal advantage and he was too defensive a batsman to be classed among the very best of the past 20 years.
When people talk about Kallis they talk about how his batting average (56) was better than all the modern greats. Fair enough. He also took almost 300 wickets at an average of 32, which is roughly equivalent to Brett Lee (310 wickets at an average of 31). They say Kallis is like Ponting and Lee in one.
Statistics over a career as long as Kallis’ do not lie. He is obviously elite. However, people need to consider other factors though when assessing; some easier to quantify than others.
First, let’s look at his bowling. To me, Kallis’ bowling was of minimal value. For his entire career he was the fifth bowler. He was an excellent fifth bowler, but what was he adding?
Were South Africa really better off giving Kallis 10 overs a day instead of giving a combination of Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini three to four more overs a day? They all had better averages than Kallis.
The argument is that Kallis’ 10 overs a day allowed the strike bowlers to freshen up and make them more effective. Maybe. We can’t quantify how much better the strike bowlers were by bowling fewer overs a day but to me it’s counter-intuitive.
I like it when my team’s best bowlers are bowling, not resting. I daresay most batsmen who faced Kallis in Test cricket were pretty happy they were not facing one of the specialist quicks. South Africa may have actually bowled sides out quicker and for fewer runs if Kallis couldn’t bowl.
Now to Kallis’ batting. His average, one of the highest in history, demonstrates that he was (and still is) a freak.
The criticism from some has been his strike rate. Kallis’ strike rate is 45, while Lara’s and Ponting’s is more like 60. I think strike rate is an important factor. The obvious reason is that it allows the bowlers more time to take 20 wickets if you score your runs quickly.
There are other factors too though. If you score quickly there is minimal pressure on your partner to score. The bowlers also feel more flustered if runs are flowing. The fielding team likes dot balls because it creates pressure and often leads to wickets.
Again, though, I can’t think of a way to quantify how damaging Kallis’ laid back approach to batting affected South Africa. Did it lead to his partner playing more rash shots? Did it lead to South Africa getting more draws than it could have?
I suspect so but, again, Kallis’ batting as a whole is hard to criticise. I would argue that he is more in Rahul Dravid or Alastair Cook’s class than Lara or Tendulkar’s though. The latter don’t have any question marks. The former were and are sometimes called too slow.
Finally, Kallis’ slip fielding was exceptional and a tremendous asset to the team. This should not be ignored. His fielding was probably worth more than his bowling. Of the elite batsmen of his generation only Dravid, AB de Villiers, Ponting and Matthew Hayden were his equal when it came to fielding.
Kallis is one of the best players I have seen and his raw, measurable statistics are as impressive as they come. People who know a lot more about cricket than I say he is the best since Bradman and the best all-rounder of all time.
My preference though is for more aggressive batsmen and that is why I rate Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting higher. I also believe his 10 overs a day were of minimal use.
Cric lover
Guest
He is just amassed those figures due to his long run .His bowling just let the opposition breathe ;his batting in odis was too slow if the side chases something in excess of 270 then its better to not get kallis out as he would just make too many dot balls(lol).He was only an asset in test cricket as a batsman .No person who loves cricket calls him an allrounder.An allrounder would be someone who is a strike bowler and can bat decently in his spot ,i never saw kallis turning a match with his bowling.
Amrit Dhillon
Guest
Great perspective. I’m often staggered at the amount of adulation Kallis has received in recent years. If numbers don’t lie, why don’t we term Sangakarra one of the best of all time? We all know why we don’t, same criterion needs to be applied to Kallis. He was nothing more than a steady bowler and his bowling average will be low as he played in a fantastic attack. I don’t even consider him as a genuine allrounder as you could never play him as a front line bowler. Compare this to Imran and Kapil who could be picked for batting and bowling alone. How he enters into best all rounder debate is behind me.
Anshuman
Guest
23 MoM in 166 matches, i.e an MoM every 7.2 games. This is better than Sanga(8.3), Ponting(10.5), Lara(11), Sachin (14.3), Dravid(15). On what basis do you term him 'not the match winner' type?
Sugan
Guest
There are quite a few batsman I rate higher tha n Kallis. For me Kallis is more of a test batsman rather than an odi player. I've always rated the odi game over tests. Asides from Lara,ponting and tendulkar. I'd take ABD, gilchrist, sangakkara, aravinda de silva, saeed anwar, sehwag, azhrauddin, Mark waugh, In my estimation all of the above players were better than Kallis. They may not have his statistics or longevity. But at their peaks they could destroy attacks and dominate bowlers in a way that he could not. They were also clearly more naturally gifted. Statistics can be very misleading. Kallis is incredibly overrated.
junaid
Guest
Jacques is one of the most humble cricketers of all time and the best ALL ROUNDER ever!!!!! Whilst the greats such as Tendulkar, Lara or Ponting. focused on batting only . He managed to be great at both.
A proper cricket pundit
Guest
This is a disgraceful slur on one of the all-time greats - tantamount to defamation.
The don
Guest
Kallis is the greatest all rounder of our generation. What rubbish are you going to spill next? Let me guess ... You will say Kumar sangakkara isn't world class. Hah
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Just WOW! Overrated? That will do me.
Don Freo
Guest
What bits couldn't you read, Nick?
anil
Guest
You saw today's Big Bash match? His returns are 1-32 which never speaks about how instrumental he was in winning the match!
Mohan Kumar
Guest
If you say IAN BOTHAM,,ANDREW FLINTOFF,KAPIL DEV are all-rounders . Then i say there are 4 types of players in cricket 1)Batsman 2)Bowler 3)All-Rounder 4)Kallis and sobers
The Bush
Roar Guru
Benaud. Richie Benaud.
Clavers
Guest
Even after your got him out you couldn't relax, because he could also take five or six wickets. That is, if you could survive Donald or Steyn long enough to face him.
Nanda
Guest
Beyond numbers, one important question is which wicket would the opponent have a sigh of relief. Sure Pinting and Tendulkar would be in the list. For most parts of his career I suspect Safa's opponents would have been worried till Kallis was out. That I believe would put Kallis up there with the best.
Sexton1
Guest
Note that I said "wins into draws," not "draws into draws" or "losses into draws" — even if Lara batted away some days, like when he made 400, the WI weren't good enough in the years he played for them to get into positions where they would have won the match without him. Or are you saying he was so good that he could have done even better, that is, won matches off his own bat on occasions when he only managed a draw? And he just batted as long as he could "most of the time?" Please. As for Ponting being a "passenger," it's true, he did struggle at the end of his career, but he often got out very quickly too—he was rarely around long enough to turn a win into a draw.
Bobbo7
Guest
Agree. He was a gun and he averaged 56 with the bat! I don't care what the strike rate is, an average of 56 doesn't lie.
peeeko
Guest
give up Nick
peeeko
Guest
nick, you sound like someone who can be easily distorted with stats. pointless comment about a fair point from Camo
peeeko
Guest
hit the nail on the head Ronan. the author claims he is the 5th bowler, he was better than that
NovaKay
Guest
Richie? Fat cat was a decent Shield bat but I don't remember him being much of a bowler, though he was pretty round.