Jacques Kallis is a South-African cricket coach and former cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler who is widely considered as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the finest all-rounders to ever play the game.
By the year 2022, Kallis will be the only cricketer in the sport’s history to have amassed over 10,000 runs and over 250 wickets in ODI and Test match play. In addition, 131 of his ODI catches. In his Test match career, he amassed 13,289 runs, 292 wickets, and 200 catches. The most Man-of-the-Match honours in Test history, 23 were given to Kallis.
- The following are some of the things that you didn’t know about Jacques Kallis:
Kallis shared a very special bond with his father (Henry Kallis). When it was determined that Kallis’ father had terminal cancer, his son took a break from the game to be with his father.
Jacques switched to wearing the same number on his one-day international jersey after his father passed away at age 65. - Janine, Kallis’ sister, cheers for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Janine really rejoiced when her brother Jacques, a player for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the second IPL season, was kicked out. At his dismissal, Jacques handled the situation pretty amicably and commented that he was impressed with her performance.
- Kallis, who is renowned for his consistency, did not exactly enjoy a dream debut, out of his first seven innings, he had only reached double digit once, and his statistics had been stagnant at 57 runs at 8.14. Then he took off, and after 18 years he stopped.
- Kallis would likely be remembered as a stone-waller, when he retired, he actually had the second highest sixes in test matches. Chris Gayle has also caught up with him on 97. AB de Villiers also leads South Africans with 50 sixes.
- Kallis was dropped from the Western Province Under-15 team because ‘he was too small to hit the ball off the square’. Kallis said, “I’ll show them”, and he quickly headed back after learning of this. He is no longer a “small” man.
- Kallis was the only non-asian to have scored over 2000 test runs in Asia with 2058 runs at 55.62 from 25 tests.
- Great batsmen often don’t engage in sledging, but Kallis took it to a new level. On one occasion, Michael Kasprowicz repeatedly called him names, but it had no effect. “Kasper” continued to bounce at him, and after giving a bouncer his best and sledging once more, all to no use, a frustrated Kasprowicz exclaimed, “Is this man f**king deaf?”
- Many people have been curious about Kallis’ decision to skip the national anthem. “Jacques told me that he sings the anthem in his heart in a quiet moment in remembrance of his parents and in gratitude for what they did to enable him to be good enough to represent his country,” Gerald Majola said. He holds the national anthem in high regard and values the opportunities he has had to represent South Africa abroad.
- In his teen years, Kallis played rugby as a fly-half. MPC Entertainment stated that Kallis “Could just as easily have been starring for the Springboks as the Proteas.” Although he was never a double-international, he co-wrote Rugby in Our Blood with the legendary sprinter Oscar Pistorius, Olympic gold medalist rower John Smith, rugby union coach Jake White, and sports journalist Angus Powers.
- Driving his Audi R8 in Wynberg on December 21, 2010, Kallis had a minor accident (but escaped unharmed). Kallis had just undergone a hair transplant, but the cheeky Mark Boucher didn’t think twice to poke fun at him: “Think my mate’s hair must have gotten into his eyes while driving last night.”
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