da 888casino： Jacques Kallis may not count among the most exciting of run-machines, but it’s been a rather sturdy engine that has helped the South African clock 20,000 international runs
da blaze casino： Mathew Varghese28-Feb-2009
Jacques Kallis has been more patient with bowlers than some others of his era, but it’s a method that has worked nonetheless © Getty Images
Jacques Kallis may not count among the most exciting of run-machines, but he has been a sturdy engine that has clocked more than 20,000 international runs. At the Wanderers, he went past 10,000 runs in Tests and became the first South African and the eighth overall to scale the milestone in Tests, and the fifth in both formats. It’s been a bit of a huff and puff in the final stretch – 2008 was not the best year for Kallis – but with two major milestones now behind him – he went past 10,000 ODIs runs in Australia – South Africa would hope he finds his old prolific form as they aim to take over the No. 1 spot in Test cricket.Both Kallis and Ricky Ponting, who was the last before Kallis to enter the 10,000-run club, made their debuts in December 1995. Both are currently playing their 129th Test but Ponting has been quicker to the mark by a fair distance. Kallis took 29 innings to go from 9000 to 10000, losing considerable ground: only Allan Border and Steve Waugh have taken longer.
1000 22 36 17 27 2000 35 55 32 50 3000 51 82 49 77 4000 61 101 61 96 5000 73 120 71 110 6000 81 134 78 125 7000 90 151 89 145 8000 101 170 100 165 9000 110 188 106 177 10,000 129 217 118 196 Both Ponting and Kallis have also been the highest run-scorers in the past decade. Kallis had a poor start to his Test career – he averaged 28.31 in his first 21 Tests – but his average has been double that since then. Ponting averages over 60 in the period, while Kallis is not far behind.
Ricky Ponting 107 181 9624 61.29 35/3860.94 Jacques Kallis 107 181 8996 59.57 28/45 45.08 Rahul Dravid 107 188 8676 52.58 24/38 42.99 Matthew Hayden 96 172 8364 52.93 29/2960.85 Mahela Jayawardene 95 157 7823 53.95 24/2953.06 Sachin Tendulkar 93 160 7676 54.05 24/3254.54 Brian Lara 74 135 7212 54.63 24/2359.19 With four members of the club still playing, the battle for the highest run-scorer in Tests could see an close finish in the coming years. Kallis is the youngest of the lot at 33, but he is 2414 runs short of Tendulkar, who is currently No. 1. While Tendulkar is nearing 36, Dravid is past 36, and Ponting is early into his 35th year. Another contest to watch will be for the highest average among the 10,000-club. Despite his recent poor run, Kallis enters the zone averaging 54.42. Ricky Ponting leads the list with an average of 57.01. Rahul Dravid also reached 10,000 with an average of over 55 but his recent poor form has reduced it to the 52-mark. Tendulkar, whose average was in the mid-57s when he reached 10,000, currently finds himself at 54.27. Like a good Test, this battle will be a gripping cat-and-mouse game. Kallis, though, tops the averages among players with 10,000 runs in international cricket.
Jacques Kallis 494 20,115 49.06 46/121 Viv Richards 349 15,261 48.75 35/90 Ricky Ponting 529 22,572 48.43 63/113 Sachin Tendulkar 669 28,879 47.81 83/141 Matthew Hayden 348 15,066 47.67 40/69 Click here for the full list.Most teams would have settled for Kallis’ runs, but he is one of those rare players in the modern era: a true allrounder, he also bowls medium-pace and is a safe catcher at slip. Many will debate his place among the greats but Kallis’ statistics are legendary: over 10,000 runs, 200 wickets and 100 catches in both forms of the game. Kallis and Jayasuriya are the only two to score 20,000 and deliver more than 20,000 balls in international cricket. Among those in the Test 10,000-club, Steve Waugh’s 7805 balls is the next best after Kallis’ 16704.
Garry Sobers 93 8032 57.78 23534.0323.75 Jacques Kallis 129 10,015 54.42252 31.25 23.17
Imran Khan 88 3807 37.69 36222.8114.88 Keith Miller 55 2958 36.97 17022.9714.00 Shaun Pollock 108 3781 32.31421 23.119.20 Trevor Goddard 41 2516 34.46 12326.228.24 Tony Greig 58 3599 40.43 14132.208.23 Ian Botham 102 5200 33.54383 28.405.14 Richard Hadlee 86 3124 27.16431 22.294.87 Chris Cairns 62 3320 33.53218 29.404.13 Kapil Dev 131 5248 31.05434 29.641.41 .Kallis has batted at No. 3 and 4 through his career, but he has been far more successful at two-down, with more than 6000 runs at over 60. He has one of the highest averages at No. 4, only a touch behind Graeme Pollock, considered perhaps the greatest South African batsman. If not for his current poor run – he has not scored a century in his last 17 innings – Kallis was averaging over 70 at No. 4
Mohammad Yousuf 40 2832 76.54 11 10 Garry Sobers 24 1530 63.75 6 4 Everton Weekes 57 3372 63.62 11 17 Graeme Pollock 37 2065 62.57 7 8 Jacques Kallis 118 6212 62.12 21 30Kallis averages over 50 both home and away, with his mean in South Africa four runs more than his 52.36 away. Against Australia, Kallis averages 37.89. He has struggled mainly against them at home, with his average in Australia being 45.75. He has also been below-par in England and Sri Lanka – averaging 29.30 and 35.33. They are the only teams besides Australia against whom Kallis averages below 55. Against Bangladesh, he’s averaged 79.25 in six Tests, and his whopping average of169.75 against Zimbabwe has been boosted by his average of 503 in three Tests in Zimbabwe.(For Kallis’ career batting summary, click here.)His consistency in the past few years has been remarkable. Kallis topped 1000 runs in a calendar year in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2007. He scored hundreds in five consecutive games in 2003-04, and in four in 2007. He has gone past 50 in five consecutive innings on three occasions – six in one instance – and had a streak of nine straight matches with at least a 50-plus score in 2007 – he managed seven in two other run-scoring streaks. In a three-year period from March 29, 2001 to March 18, 2004, Kallis went 52 innings without a duck. That consistency has been rewarded with 20 Man-of-the-Match awards, the most for any player.However, he is yet to score a double-century, with 189 not out being his best. This despite the fact that nine of his 30 hundreds have been 150-plus scores. Among the list of top 20 batsmen with most Test centuries, Kallis is the only one besides Mohammad Azharuddin, who has 22 tons, without a double-century.
0-19 36.8733.33 20-49 26.27 28.70 50-89 21.19 17.97 90-99 1.84 2.78 100-149 9.68 11.57 150-199 4.153.70 200 and above – 1.85*Kallis has been bowled a fair number of times, perhaps due to his tendency to play the expansive drive through the off side. He has been out bowled more often than lbw.
Bowled 22.28 13.68 Caught by fielder 34.24 41.05 Caught by wicketkeeper23.3717.37 Stumped 0.54 3.68 Leg-before 16.85 18.95 Run-out2.72 5.26One criticism against Kallis has been his runs against the weaker teams. So, does his 996 runs against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe really sway the numbers? We tried removing numbers against the two teams and check the records for the six who went past 10,000 in the last decade. (To be fair to Zimbabwe, their teams were competitive till a few years ago, but to be objective we have to ignore performances against them altogether.)
Ricky Ponting 10,833 57.01 10,28356.19 0.82 Brian Lara11,953 52.88 11,558 52.530.35 Sachin Tendulkar 12,429 54.27 10955 51.432.84 Jacques Kallis 10,01554.42 9019 51.243.18 Rahul Dravid 10,50952.28 9109 49.233.05 Steve Waugh 10,92751.06 10,38148.96 2.10Kallis’ average dips the most, but Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh also see considerable declines. Another reason perhaps Kallis’ is not considered among the best is perhaps because most of his runs – 2073 to be precise – have come against West Indies, another weak team in recent years, at an average of 74.03. We take a look at how Kallis performs compared to others in South Africa’s top six in Tests he’s played, and the numbers show why he is such a vital component in the batting line-up. Barring a few cases, Kallis outdoes his compatriots against most teams.
Australia 36.63 32.06 43.7836.1445.0048.80 Bangladesh 79.25 70.17 31.5051.7579.2570.17England 40.97 38.52 29.30 40.0841.7242.69 India 55.2542.11 55.70 44.1973.8351.17 New Zealand 67.8055.41 66.25 70.22 46.5343.72Pakistan 60.4738.9483.1444.9478.3747.33Sri Lanka 33.6334.47 35.3332.8438.8034.69West Indies 74.0348.30 50.6943.8279.4150.40Zimbabwe 169.7581.75503.0096.66122.5079.87Critics have also pointed out how Kallis’ average is boosted by his runs scored in not-out innings. Waugh and Border have more runs in unbeaten innings than Kallis, while three other batsmen in the 10,000-club have more than 1250.
Steve Waugh 46 3337 177 15 12 Allan Border 44 2989 200 11 18 Jacques Kallis 33 2555 189 11 11 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 31 2541 203 11 12 Sachin Tendulkar 27 2430 248 13 3Kallis averages 62.46 in South Africa’s 63 wins during his career. It drops to 34.10 in 34 losses, and is 72.00 in 31 draws. He finds himself among some illustrious names in averaging over 70 in draws. In South Africa’s 24 wins while batting first, Kallis averages 78.25 with eight hundreds. He also performs better in the team’s second innings, in which he averages eight runs more than in the first.
Donald Bradman 30 2299 104.50 10 8 Herbert Sutcliffe 31 1541 64.20 6 6 Jacques Kallis 88 3773 59.88 8 24Out of Kallis’ 3773 runs in the second innings, 2669 have come in the third innings of a game at an average of 71.02. He’s made 1599 runs from 25 unbeaten scores in the second innings. Kallis has scored a third of those second-innings runs in drawn games, averaging 111 with six hundreds and four half-centuries.Although his step-up as a batsman reflects in his batting averages under Shaun Pollock and Graeme Smith, Kallis’ bowling average has declined under Smith’s captaincy – a similar trend to that in ODIs. However, in 2007 and 2008, Kallis managed to take 49 wickets at 27.30 apiece, compared to his 66 wickets at nearly 40 in the four years prior to that.
Hansie Cronje 35 2100 43.75 59 28.01 29 Shaun Pollock 26 2112 60.34 65 27.49 30 Graeme Smith 62 5465 58.76 113 34.25 78For someone who has hit a half-century in 24 balls, and has 66 sixes in Tests – only Lara among the 10,000-club has more – Kallis’ strike-rate is only 44.07. In his 30 centuries, Kallis’ strike-rate is 50.00, not among the best post 1990. Nonetheless, it’s an approach that has worked wonderfully for both Kallis and South Africa.