When Jacques Kallis' credentials are compared to those of other legends, they stand up in every way. He is fourth on the all-time run-scoring list
and the only allrounder to have scored over 11,000 runs and taken more
than 250 wickets. Statistically, Kallis is unmatched but the reason he
shares his 'greatest' tag with the likes of Garry Sobers is not only
because they played in different eras but because there is one thing
Kallis has not done: captain.
In 17 years as an international cricketer, Kallis has officially led the
team in 15 times, all in the latter third of his career. In 2006,
Kallis captained in three ODIs against Zimbabwe and the next year, he
was the designated leader in a tri-series involving India and Ireland.
Test captaincy has been even more rare. He took on the role in two
matches against Australia in 2009 and would not have done so if not for
extreme circumstances - Graeme Smith was ruled out with a broken hand
and Ashwell Prince refused to lead the team because he was being made to
open the batting instead of play in the middle-order, which was his
preference. Kallis was the emergency replacement and has never been
approached to do the job in any form since.
As a result, he is perceived as reluctant to be in charge and someone
who prefers to focus on his own game. While that may have been true for
the Kallis who ate up balls in the 2007 World Cup against Australia when
he should have been pushing the run-rate, it does not reflect the
Kallis of today. "He has reached the point where he is adding good value
to the team environment," Gary Kirsten, South Africa's coach, said.
Kallis' ability to influence team direction is not overt. He is hardly
ever seen assisting in field placings or chatting to bowlers before they
run up, and those who have batted with him have revealed that he is a
man of few words in the middle. What he brings is experience few
cricketers on the world stage can match.
Consider that on Friday Kallis will become one of only three players -
Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar being the other two - to have played
at 50 Test venues, and you will understand the vastness of his
cricketing acumen. By sharing that, Kallis leads in his own way.
"It's an important thing to do for guys who have been to places like
England or Australia - you have knowledge that you pass on to guys who
haven't been here," Kallis said. "It's about being a captain of your own
environment, because it grows you as a person and a cricketer. I've
never been one that likes to compare players or eras, especially with
the amount of cricket we play. It's an honour to be compared with those
guys, but I just love playing and I love winning and I want to
contribute as much as I can contribute to winning matches."
Occasionally, Kallis will dip into some of that wall of wisdom in front
of the media and recently he has been doing it with increasing
frequency. He launched an attack on DRS in New Zealand and showed
prudent sensitivity during Mark Boucher's forced retirement in England.
In Australia, Kallis took the opportunity to express the need for longer
Test series. "It would be nice to have more Tests against Australia. I
thought the two-Test series we had last year was crazy," he said. "It's
about scheduling but we need to find a way for series between top teams
to turn into four or five-match series."
The reality is that this series is comprised of only three Tests but it
could have the intensity of a longer contest as South Africa are
involved in their fourth battle for No. 1 since 2010. This time South
Africa are the title-holders and their opposition the challengers.
Kallis knows all too well the feeling of being the latter and thinks
South Africa's experience of being nearly-men for so long will be an
advantage, even though it could be seen as the opposite. "It does feel
slightly different coming to Australia as No. 1 because you come with
that at the back of your mind," he said. "But we also come with knowing
how hard we had to work to get that success and I don't see any reason
why we can't get ourselves into positions to win."
Another of the obvious ticks in South Africa's column is the presence of
Kallis himself, whether or not he is contributing in a leadership role.
With no allrounder in the Australia XI, Kallis' ability to be, as
Kirsten said, "two players in one who would make any team in the world
whether as a bowler or a batsmen", could prove a telling divide between
the two teams.
It's that, rather than considering whether Kallis is providing inside
information that Ricky Ponting said Australia will focus on. For that
reason, Australia will treat Kallis as their "No. 1 opponent" for the
next week. "He has had a lot of success with bat and ball and we've got
to find ways of breaking him down," Ponting said.
Kallis took the warning as a "compliment" but issued one of his own
back, in rather captain-like style: "We've got 11 guys in our side who
are match-winners. The guys are hungry to do well here and we've set
ourselves high standards."
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