Great all-rounder Kallis to quit test arena after India finale
South African superstar will remain available for one-day internationals and targets 2015 World Cup as his final swansong.
Jacques Kallis will retire from test cricket after this week’s second match against India, ending the career of one of the game’s greatest all-rounders and South Africa’s most significant player of the modern era – and possibly ever.
Kallis is the fourth highest runscorer in tests and his total of 44 centuries in 165 matches is second only to Sachin Tendulkar’s 51. And that only tells half the story.
It wasn’t an easy decision to come to, especially with Australia around the corner and the success this team is enjoying, but I feel that I have made my contribution in this format
He has also taken 292 test wickets as a menacing and skilful seam bowler in his 18-year career, an astoundingly good return for a world-class batsman who so often still had to balance his responsibilities between bat and ball.
Kallis will remain available for one-day internationals, he said in his announcement on Wednesday, and repeated his desire to play at the 2015 World Cup as his final swansong.
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to have been part of the South African test team since making my debut 18 years ago,” Kallis said on the eve of the final test against India in Durban. “I have enjoyed every moment out in the middle but I just feel the time is right to hang up my test whites.”
The 38-year-old Kallis quit before the home series against Australia in February and a chance to end his career after one more match at his beloved Newlands home ground in Cape Town. That series had been tipped to be his last but he surprised many by his sudden announcement on Christmas Day.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to come to,” he said, “especially with Australia around the corner and the success this team is enjoying, but I feel that I have made my contribution in this format.”
Kallis’ total of 13,174 test runs is behind only Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid on the all-time test list and he could overtake Dravid with a good test in Durban. At 55.12, his batting average is better than Tendulkar’s, or anyone else in the top nine test run-getters.
As well as his mountain of runs, over 4,000 more than any other South African, Kallis was also a good enough bowler to regularly trouble the best batsmen in the game and is fifth among South Africa’s test wicket-takers. The four above him are all out-and-out bowlers.
And added to those outstanding batting and bowling statistics, Kallis took 199 catches, most of them as a sharp slip fielder, to be behind only Ponting’s 210 catches in tests. It all ensured he is widely considered South Africa’s most valuable cricketer and, for many, the best all-rounder to have played the game.
India’s Dravid told the cricinfo website that Kallis was a “once in a generation kind of cricketer”.
South Africa batsman AB de Villiers wrote on Twitter: “140 characters just won’t be enough to do u justice, so in short then, Jacques Henry Kallis, we salute you.”
Teammate Hashim Amla tweeted: “An amazin(g) career from arguably South Africa’s greatest sportsman.”
With his introspective character, Kallis rarely displayed any outward emotion while playing, leaving some to presume he lacked passion. That was a mistaken observation and he was an integral part of South Africa’s team for nearly two decades after making his debut as a 20-year-old in 1995 against England in Durban – at the ground where he will retire.
“The impact Jacques has made on South African cricket has been immense, not just as a player but as a human being,” South Africa coach Russell Domingo said. “I’m not sure we will ever see another player of that stature very soon.”
Up to the first test against India in Johannesburg last week, Kallis was still bowling at full speed at nearly 40 and taking crucial wickets. He had also appeared to have regained some form with the bat in the second innings after a lean recent period.
“The last two years specifically have been a memorable journey with an exceptional group of cricketers,” Kallis said. “I am fortunate enough to have ended my test career amongst a group of talented cricketers but, more importantly, friends whom I will cherish for years to come.
“I don’t see it as goodbye because I still have a lot of hunger to push South Africa to that World Cup in 2015 if I am fit and performing.”
His decision to retire brought praise from across cricket.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote on Twitter that Kallis was the “GreatestAllrounder” and a “Legend.”
“All I can say what a privilege to have played with the great man,” South Africa captain Graeme Smith tweeted. “Hopefully, we can give him the send off he deserves over the next 5 days! Gonna miss him immensely.”
Then in a message specifically for Kallis, Smith wrote: “love you and grateful.”
