Jacques Kallis has retired from all forms of cricket. Among the many retirement announcements that have filtered through over the years, this one is unique.
Because unlike other contemporary legends like Sachin Tendulkar or Ricky Ponting, who quit the game, Kallis’ walk into the sunset has been as unassuming and lacking in fanfare as his game.
He had already quit Test cricket to concentrate on the shortest format of the game and be ready for the 2015 World Cup, but a poor series in Sri Lanka made it clear to him that he was not the same Kallis anymore.
After 18 years of top class batting, incisive fast-medium bowling and outstanding slip catching, the reflexes had slowed down and the burly veteran decided it was best to call it quits now rather than drag the team down at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
What is an ever bigger disappointment is that Kallis, without doubt the most successful accumulator of runs, wickets and catches (collectively) the game has seen, is not discussed in the same breath as some of the other outstanding all-rounders like Garry Sobers, Ian Botham or Imran Khan.
What makes this apparent snub rankle is the fact that Kallis has accomplished a lot more than any of the celebrated greats and he has done so across all three formats of the game and has displayed a textbook perfect technique in every facet of cricket.
To watch Kallis bat was to witness a masterclass in how to value your wicket, master the conditions and score runs with exquisite technique.
His bowling was a perfect example of how excellent wrist position and a strong body can generate wickets, and hurt batsmen, on any wicket and format. And his slip catching oozed class, as effortless as it was dependable.
Even if you were to overlook the obvious class, his statistics cannot be ignored. If we combine his numbers, Kallis scored 25,534 runs, picked up 577 wickets and took 338 catches for South Africa.
Sachin Tendulkar scored more than 33,000 international runs, Muttiah Muralitharan scalped more than 1300 wickets and they are seen as all-time legends.
Kallis isn’t even considered among the greatest all-rounders despite no player managing even half of what he has done as a master of all trades.
Sachin and Murali can’t boast of such numbers. And let’s not forget the fact that Kallis’ home conditions were the toughest for any No3 batsman and while bowling, he had to wait for his chance behind the likes of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and recently, Dale Steyn.
Even sadder was Kallis’ retirement from Test cricket late last year. Though he was playing against India in South Africa, the crowds barely filled the stadium and it felt as if even his compatriots didn’t want to acknowledge his service to the game.
But one feels Kallis is not the type of person who allows his surroundings to dictate his state of mind. He batted at his own tempo, bowled according to his fields and trained as and when he required.
No wonder then that during the final few years of his career, South Africa coaches began to leave Kallis to his own devices. Now that he has called it a day, let’s hope he is not an afterthought anymore when fans and players talk about the best the game has seen.
Many consider that there is no such thing as the greatest cricketer. Tendulkar scored the most runs but Don Bradman was the most prolific.
Murali took the most wickets but Shane Warne was outstanding. Ian Botham was great but Sobers was the most flamboyant.
Maybe a few years down the line, people will remember Kallis with the same fondness. And he deserves no less because although we might still get a great batsman who plunders 30,000 runs.
Or a bowler who collects 1,000 wickets. But there will, most certainly, never be another Jacques Kallis. They don’t make ’em like him anymore.
