The Forgotten Man

When it comes to the selection of All-Time XI's and debates about the greatest all-rounders. There is always one man who must be thinking, what about me? If you haven't already guessed it, he's South African and his first name is Jacques (if you haven't guessed it by now then you must either never have heard of cricket or you think that Jacques Rudolph's leg-spin is vastly underrated). It is of course, Jacques Kallis. The scorer of 11126 Test runs, 35 Test centuries, and an average of 55.07. He has also taken the small matter of 266 Test wickets at 31.59 apiece.

So after seeing these statistics (and cricket is a game completely obsessed by them) why is he not more celebrated? My guess would be his style. He is hardly the most exciting cricketer. But should this really enter into the equation? It shouldn't, but it does. If Andrew Flintoff had the same stats he would be considered an All-Time great, on a par with Sobers and an automatic selection in any All-Time XI.

In my view, Kallis is hardly a boring cricketer. He has a most beautiful cover drive and has adapted to the thrill-a-minute Twenty20 format well, much better than the more 'exciting' Michael Clarke. Although his strike rate in Tests is not exhilarating (44.52) he is 8th on the All-Time list of Test Match six hitters. I feel, however, like I might be preaching to the choir. In my opinion it is his no-thrills bowling, not his batting that edges him out of the equation. If Kallis was a leg-spinner, had an extraordinarily flexible wrist or could hurl the ball down at 95mph there is no doubt in my mind that he would be considered more highly.

He is a victim of his own extraordinary reliability. His miserly economy-rate of 2.81 tells the story of his job for South Africa. Get through some overs without going for too many runs while the quicks recover, if he picks up a wicket its a bonus. This is an almightily undervalued job as he puts pressure on batsmen, often picks up a wicket or two and sets it up nicely for the likes of Steyn to come in and tear away at the opposition.

When you consider that Kallis has also been the bedrock of the South African batting for more than a decade it is a wonder he is still bowling at all. As other all-rounders have faded away (read Flintoff, Oram and Cairns etc) he just keeps on going. If he can churn out a few more years he may well reach 300 Test Match wickets. This landmark of 10,000 runs and 300 wickets would mean he would join the likes of... well... himself in the most exclusive all-rounders club of them all.

However even if this landmark is reached I doubt his deserved acclaim will arrive. Maybe once Twenty20 has been run dry of all enjoyment by the constant stream of games, the love of Test Match attrition will return and Kallis will finally get the recognition he deserves.

When ESPNCricinfo released their All-Time 1st and 2nd XI's, Kallis was nowhere to be seen. I wonder whether his name came up during the discussions? I suspect not. I am as guilty as anyone for overlooking Kallis, for a week now I have been writing and scrutinising these XI's and during this time, not once did his name enter my head as a possible candidate. After writing this I now realise the error of my ways and I hope that the big man (Kallis, not God) can forgive me for my error in judgement.

If you base an all-rounders worth by the difference between batting and bowling average there is only one man who comes close to matching Kallis. Yep, you guessed it. Sobers edges Kallis out in these stakes by the thinnest of margins yet the esteem in which these all-rounders are held are poles apart.

One can only hope that in the future, the question of: Jacques Kallis in an All-Time XI? will elicit, maybe not a resounding yes. But perhaps... why not?