Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis OIS is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever to play the game, he was a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler., Kallis is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 10,000 runs and take over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test match cricket. He has also taken 131 ODI catches. He scored 13,289 runs in his Test match career, took 292 wickets, and 200 catches. Kallis scored 45 Test match centuries and is the fourth highest test match run scorer in history. Kallis won 23 Man-of-the-Match awards, the most by any player in Test history.
He was declared the Player of the Tournament in South Africa's victorious 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy campaign, which was South Africa's first ICC tournament win in their history. Kallis finished as the 2nd highest run-scorer in the tournament and was its leading wicket taker with Man-of-the-Match awards in both the semi-final and the final.
In the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy Final, Kallis picked up a spell of 5 wickets for 30 runs.
Kallis played 166 Test matches and had a batting average of over 55 runs. From October to December 2007, he scored five centuries in four Test matches. With his century in the second innings of the third Test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar's 51.
Kallis was named Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008 Wisden for his performances in 2007 in addition to being the "ICC Test Player of the Year" and ICC Player of the Year in 2005. He has been described by Kevin Pietersen, Ricky Ponting and Daryll Cullinan as the greatest cricketer to play the game, and along with Wally Hammond and Sir Garry Sobers is one of the few Test all-rounders whose Test batting average is over 50 and exceeds his Test bowling average by 20 or more. Kallis became the fourth player and first South African to score 13,000 Test runs on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on 2 January 2013. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013. He retired from Test and first-class cricket after playing in the second test against India at Durban in December 2013; Kallis scored his 45th Test hundred in this match, making him one of the few batsmen to score a century in his final Test. He retired from all forms of international cricket on 30 July 2014.
In December 2019, it was announced that Jacques Kallis would rejoin the South African national cricket team, The Proteas, as the team's batting consultant for the duration of the summer. In August 2020, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Playing career
Early career and 1996 Cricket World Cup
Kallis attended and played cricket for Wynberg Boys' High School. In 2009 Wynberg honoured Kallis by naming their main cricket oval after him. In July 1993 he was picked for South Africa U-17's against Scotland's U-19 team.He made his first-class debut in 1993/94 as an 18-year-old, playing for Western Province B. Still 18, Kallis played league cricket in England for Old Edwardians in Solihull in 1994, where coaching staff saw the potential for him to become a first-class all-rounder; the following summer he played for Netherfield in Kendal, scoring 791 runs at an average of 98.87 from 14 matches.
His first Test appearance was on 14–18 December 1995 against England in Durban, but he struggled with the bat in his first few matches. Kallis made his World Cup debut in 1996 in Pakistan but did not have much opportunity to excel. His breakthrough came in 1997, with 61 against Pakistan, and then two matches later, he salvaged a draw for South Africa with a fighting century against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
1998–2002
Between 1998 and 2002, Jacques Kallis was one of the world's leading all-rounders, as seen in the ICC's cricket ratings. In 1998, he led South Africa to the ICC Champions Trophy title with two "Man of the Match" and the "Player of the Series" performances. The youngster was solid, without being spectacular, in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, before a "Player of the Series" performance led South Africa to a stunning Test series victory against India in India in 2000. By late 2001 he was the world's number one ranked Test all-rounder, having held the same ranking in ODIs for the best part of 3 years. During this time, "Kallis blossomed into arguably the world's leading batsman, with a defensive technique second to none, and the adhesive qualities of a Cape Point limpet. Generally a placid and undemonstrative man, he nailed down the crucial No. 3 positions in the South African batting order after several players had been tried and discarded, and his stock rose exponentially from that moment."2003–2014
Kallis is one of only four players in Test history to make a century in five consecutive matches, which he achieved in the 2003/04 season. For his performances in 2004, 2005, and 2008, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC. He was also named in the World ODI XI by the ICC for the year 2004 and 12th man for XI in 2005. He was also selected for the ODI XI in 2007 as well. In 2005, he set the record for the fastest half-century in Test cricket history, scoring 50 against Zimbabwe off only 24 balls. In 2007, Kallis scored five centuries in four Tests, making him just the fourth man after Bradman, Ken Barrington and Matthew Hayden to score four centuries in four Tests on two different occasions. Kallis has a remarkable batting average in the mid-50s, and was consistently rated as one of the best batsmen in the world. Although a very capable bowler with 292 Test wickets, he impressed mostly with the bat between 2005 and 2007. As a result, he evolved into more of a batting all-rounder, a role in which he continued because of the emergence of Dale Steyn, Morné Morkel, and Vernon Philander. Kallis is the only man to score over 10,000 runs and to take over 200 wickets in Test cricket. Sir Garfield Sobers managed over 8,000 runs and 200 wickets by comparison, at very similar averages, although Sobers achieved this feat in just 93 tests compared to Kallis’ 166.In 2005, Kallis was selected for the World XI team to play an Asian XI in a benefit match for those affected by the tsunami of 2004, along with countryman Shaun Pollock. In the same year, he was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC player of the year. The award was shared with Andrew Flintoff of England, his only serious competitor as the world's leading all-rounder, after the votes of the academy were tied. Kallis also won the "ICC Test Player of the Year" award that year.
In 2006, Kallis was awarded the captaincy of South Africa for the third and final Test match against Australia when Graeme Smith withdrew with an injury.
In the 2007 World Cup, Kallis was South Africa's leading run-scorer with 485 runs at 80.83. He was, however, criticized in the press for scoring slowly, which cost South Africa momentum at key stages in the tournament. In August 2007, he was omitted from the 15-man South Africa squad for 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and consequently resigned as vice-captain. He was restored to the team for the Test series against Pakistan, where he scored three centuries in four innings and was awarded "Man of the Match" twice and "Player of the Series".
Following his successful tour of Pakistan, Kallis scored two aggressive centuries in matches against New Zealand at Johannesburg's Wanderer's Stadium and Centurion Park in Pretoria, taking his total century count to five in four matches. Following this purple patch of form, Kallis endured three tours without success in the form of hundreds, although the Proteas secured historic series victories in England and Australia, and won a two-match series against Bangladesh at home.
Kallis returned to form after an indifferent 2008 and averaged over 50 in his next six series. During this time, the Proteas won one series, drew four, and lost one series to a resilient Australia. Kallis scored 173 in Nagpur in 2010. In the Centurion Test against India later in the year, he scored his maiden double-century in Test match cricket. His 201 not out came in a landslide victory for South Africa, as two of the team's future batting stars contributed significant hundreds of their own. For the second time in his career, Kallis scored twin centuries in a match, during the third Test of the series at his home ground, Newlands in Cape Town.
In January 2012, Kallis scored his highest score in Tests – 224 against Sri Lanka at Newlands. The last eight series that Kallis played in for South Africa were all victories for the Proteas, except for one series draw against Pakistan in the UAE. Kallis became one of the few players in world cricket to have won two series each in England and Australia. The Proteas also won two series against New Zealand and one against each of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, and Australia.
Throughout this period of his career, Kallis was still valued for his bowling. He contributed valuable economical overs and had a knack for taking important wickets.
In September 2014, Kallis signed a one-year contract with the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. In his first appearance for the Thunder he scored an important innings of 97* and picked up a wicket.
2008–2013: The senior all-rounder
In 2008 more responsibility was placed on Kallis as an all-rounder due to the retirement of Shaun Pollock. Despite the pressure, an all-rounder began to emerge in Wayne Parnell who did some good lower-order batting.Kallis endured an uncharacteristically poor 2008 with the bat, averaging well under thirty for much of it. Against the ninth-ranked Bangladesh, he averaged just 25.75 in four Test outings. He also played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, where he averaged 16.85 runs per innings with the bat and 55.5 runs per wicket with the ball at an economy rate of 9.65 in the 7 matches he played before he was dropped.