In Praise of Jacques Kallis

The best cricketer I have seen play the game. So unheralded compared to modern day greats that his retirement from all international cricket passes with barely a whisper.

Yeah, it does help that his last two or three years of limited overs cricket were a caricature of his earlier work. While he improved as a batsman, I think his most valuable work came when he was a batsman averaging 50, and bowling near 90mph. He really was effectively two players in that time. Fantastic cricketer, 22000 runs, 550+ wickets, for me the greatest cricketer ever.

What more can be said about Jacques that hasn't already been written. What a legend. It is now up to South Africa to find a replacement.   

Wishing the best to Kallis in his post-retirement life. Hopefully he'll be involved with the game in the future beyond playing some T-20 here and there.......

I think the biggest thing with him was that his game was hard to love. It sorta makes people put him down a peg or two. Moreover, it wasn't hard to love in the sense that it had no artistic merit, like a Border/Collingwood/Smith type. He had all the shots, his innings just seemed so... soulless.

Perfection can feel soulless

kallis is not just a contemporary great..but rather an all time great.
and greats like him cannot be replaced.....they just happen one or two times in a century.

he and sobers are the only two of one kind......in that 2 man club of super-allrounders

I do hope to god we don't try and replace him. It's gonna make England's search for the next Botham look like a middling success.

A truly phenomenal player. I often felt that the main reason his bowling went overlooked was because of just how exceptional his batting was.

Had he averaged around 40 with the bat and 32.65 (his Test bowling average) with the ball then he still would have been a very good all rounder in his own right. However he averaged 55.37 with the bat or put in perspective with his contemporaries more than any of Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar and Dravid. Hence it was easier to overlook his all round contribution.

For a player to be a true all rounder they also need to provide a big contribution in the field, and with 200 test catches he certainly ticked that box as well.

Best ever all rounder for me, what a player.

To me, he was the best all round player I have ever seen. I would even say that he is the best player the game has seen.