The Perfect All-Rounder
In an era of master batsmen ranging from Sachin Tendulkar to Ricky Ponting, people tend to forget another great: Jacques Kallis. Jacques Kallis, much like Tendulkar or Ponting, epitomises the art of perfect batsmanship. One need
only to look at the way he hammered successive centuries against the Pakistani pace attack, in the ongoing Test series in the UAE.
Tall and powerfully built, with the strength of an elephant and the subtlety of the African Mamba, Jacques Kallis stands out like a true gem. In an era of a dwindling number of all-rounders, Jacques Kallis has firmly established
himself to be one of the all time greats of the game. Consider his career statistics if you will; with over 11,000 runs in both Tests and One Day Internationals, and over 250 Test wickets, Kallis is one of the few remaining stalwarts of the game who have come
to be associated with the kind of quality cricket that people attach with the cricketers of yester years. Consider also, that from October to December 2007, he has produced 4 centuries in 5 test matches, was the Leading Cricketer in the world for Wisden in
2008, and has been called the greatest player in the world by Kevin Pietersen and Daryll Cullinan.
When on song, Kallis is an enthralling spectacle to behold as he pulls, cuts and drives fast bowlers and hammers the spinners with their wily turns all over the ground. His batting skills are reminiscent of an artist who has taken
it upon his self to paint the cricket ground in a blazing orgy of explosive colour. His style is a definite reminder of the days when legends such as Imran Khan, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kapil-Dev-c70234, and Ian Botham among others ruled the roost in the cricketing world.
Apparently, the isolation from cricket for 21 years due to apartheid does not seem to have made much of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Dent-c41093 in the ability of South Africa to produce excellent cricketers. Despite the notion that South Africa are chokers when
it comes to winning major tournaments, there is no dearth of talent in the country. Even in the face of being isolated, South Africa still managed to produce world class cricketers who unfortunately had to fade into oblivion, but not of their own choice. Cricketers
such as Graeme Pollock, the feisty, tall left handed batsman, Mike Proctor, Eddie Barlow and Barry Richards are a stark reminder of the cricketing legacy that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 holds, and what it is capable of.
After the return to international cricket, this legacy bore fruit in the form of Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lance-Klusener-c72175, who have done their country and their predecessors extremely
proud. But none more so than Jacques Kallis, who has achieved what few batsmen, or bowlers, or all-rounders for that matter, ever achieve. It is a living testament to his skills that he is known as the greatest all-rounder to have ever graced the game in terms
of his accomplishment on the field.
Undeniably, whenever Jacques Kallis decides to hang up his boots from international cricket, he will be remembered for his monumental achievements and being one of the best cricketers that his country has ever produced. But more
than that, he will be revered as being one of the greatest cricketers to have ever graced the game of cricket in the same era that Sachin Tendulkar was scaling new heights or Ricky Ponting was breaking new barriers, and he stood there alongside them making
his own records.
From 1889 when South Africa played their first ever Test match against England at Port Elizabeth, to today, men like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Private-Proctor-c41015, Pollock, Nourse, Kirsten, Smith and Donald have all done their country proud; but none more so than the
cricketing wizard known as Jacques Kallis.
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