Name:

Kallis, Jacques H

Nickname:

Jakes

Date of Birth:

16 Oct 1975

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Cape Town

Career:

Test: 1995 - 2013
ODI: 1996 - 2014
T20: 1995 - 2012
First Class: 1993 - 2013

Teams:

South Africa (Country)
Kolkata Knight Riders (IPL)

All-rounder in the making: A young Jacques Kallis (1995)

Jacques Kallis: Possibly a better allrounder than even Sobers

Jacques Henry Kallis was born on 16 October 1975 in Cape Town. As a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Kallis is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders ever.

Kallis made his Test debut against England at Durban, 14-18, Dec 1995 as a 20 year old. He made his ODI Debut also versus England at Cape Town, Jan 09, 1996 and his Twenty20 debut vs New Zealand at Johannesburg, Oct 21, 2005.

1998 was the catalyst year for Kallis. After 3 years and 16 Tests, he had scored only one century with a batting average of 25.37. The 1998 tour of England started the rise to greatness. He took 4-29 at Lord's and followed up with 132 at Manchester, showing what a double-threat he could be on the greatest stage. Kallis then helped South Africa win the inaugural ICC Champions Trophy - still the only major trophy in their cabinet. He hit 113 in the semi-final before taking 5-30 against the West Indies in the final.

Kallis was without doubt one of the greatest batsmen of his era - and that was an era in which he shared the limelight with Ponting, Lara and Tendulkar. He is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 11,000 runs and 250 wickets in both one day and Test match cricket.

After a successful tour of England in 2012, Kallis was honored as one of Wisden's 5 cricketers of the year in 2013.

He retired from Test cricket after the Boxing Day match against India in Dec 2013. He left on a high scoring a superb 115. He brought his 19 year international career to an end after the ODI against Sri Lanka in July 2014.

Kallis was most complete all-rounder of his time. No other player combined batting in the top three and with genuine bowling ability, in multiple forms of the game, as Kallis has. Most experts agree that he may have even been a better allrounder than the great Gary Sobers.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter