To deny that Jacques Kallis will go down as a true legend of the world game the very moment he hangs up his batting gloves is cricket blasphemy.

Yet, despite his incredible record as a world-class cricketer, Kallis has absorbed his fair share of criticism over the years. When things go wrong out in the middle, bitter fans often point a crooked finger at Kallis, labelling him a misfit of the modern game and accusing him of being “selfish” or “too slow”. They say he is not a true superstar in the way Sachin Tendulkar or Muttiah Muralitharan are.

But 129 Tests and almost 14 years since his Test debut, Kallis has in my view confirmed that he truly belongs on that list of all-time greats. Let’s hope that the act of pushing the ball into the covers for one against Australia at the Wanderers to bring up his 10000th Test run will finally put paid to the constant whinging and afford critics the opportunity to acknowledge this amazing feat.

After recently also surpassing the magical 10 000-run mark in ODI cricket, Kallis is now a part of the elite group to hit the five-figure milestone in both forms of the game. The South African becomes the fifth member of the big-name battery, alongside Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting.

The fact that Kallis is among such illustrious company is testament to his fortitude of mind and pure ability with willow in hand. But there is more to the burly Capetonian than that…

With over 250 Test scalps (and another 246 in the 50-over format), not to mention some 139 Test catches under his belt, Kallis is far more than a mere batting genius. The right-hander simply has no rival as an all-rounder in today’s game and would realistically challenge the big stars of yesteryear.

South Africans may be wary of comparing Kallis to the great names of the past, but the rest of the cricketing world isn’t. For some reason, a large chunk of fans in this country don’t give the man enough credit. But, as they say, the scoreboard never lies; or in this case, the career record doesn’t lie.

Despite a Test batting average hovering in the mid-fifties (with 30 glorious hundreds), the ability to swing the ball at decent pace and a pair of slip-catching hands resembling buckets, Kallis probably wouldn’t be named in all that many people’s all-time Test XIs. One has to ask the question why? On statistics alone he should walk into any team ever assembled! Indeed, if I was to select such a team, Kallis would be among the first names on the list.

Still doubt the man? Well, ponder this: another four wickets in one-day cricket and Kallis will become the first man in the long history of the game to break the 10000-run/250-wicket barrier in both forms of the game. That’s right, the first player ever.

He may sport a batting technique straight from the MCC coaching manual, something not seen all that often in these days of slog-offs and switch-hitting, but he is more than just a defensive batsman, which is clearly illustrated by the sheer weight of runs scored.

The only criticism levelled at Kallis that has any merit is his lack of a Test double-ton. One can only hope that he finds himself in position to check this final box before he calls it quits. But if that day doesn’t arrive and Kallis retires without achieving this milestone, at least the critics will have something to talk about.

I’d like to think that in years from now, true fans of the game will look back at Jacques Kallis in the same way we revere the likes of Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham or Imran Khan.

In fact, his record is already more impressive than a couple of those names, and that’s saying something.

  • Has Kallis silenced his critics? Leave a comment below!


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