The article speaks about the great all-rounder Jack Kallis. He was a legend. With his great performances in Test cricket and one dayers he created a standard very difficult to attain by the young cricketers.

South African cricketer Jack Kallis is one of the greatest all-rounders of the modern age. He had played 166 test matches and scored 13,289 runs with the fabulous average of 55.37. He had also captured 292 wickets and took 200 catches. It shows his all- round skills. In addition to the brilliant record in test matches he had scored 11,574 runs in 325 one-days and took 273 wickets.

 

Other than Sir Gary Sobers none of the all-rounders in the history of cricket had such a brilliant record. In respect of batting Kallis used to be considered the 2nd best batsman in test matches after Sachin Tendulkar.

 

He was also a fast bowler and in the initial 25 test matches he bowled at 95 miles per hour.

With passing of time he reduced his pace but supplemented it with control over swing. He played as the first change bowler after the deadly spells of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

 

The modern cricket viewers had seen brilliant performances of other great all-rounders like Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Sir Richard Hadlee and Ian Botham. But in respect of all these all-rounders either the batting or the bowling skills outweighed the other skills. Imran Khan was a deadly fast bowler during his early career. When he developed hi batting at the later part of the career, he rarely bowled due to back pain. Sir Richard Hadlee used to be considered the best fast bowler of the decade. But his batting skills were not as great as that of Ian Botham. Kapil Dev had both the skills, but his bowling outweighed his batting. He had tremendous control over swing.

 

In case of Jack Kallis, every fast bowler all around the world created a strategy to get him. On his dismissal the pressure of the opponent team reduced down.

 

During the decade of Sir Gary Sobers, the number of tests played used to be less. During Kallis’s time, with test matches, one-dayers and T20s it has become a challenge for the all-rounders to remain fit for every forms of cricket. Kallis had sustained that pressure and played for over 18 years. He had not fulfilled only one dream of not helping South African to win a One Day World Cup.

 

Kallis will always remain as one of the greatest all-rounder of all times.