Quo Vadis Proteas – Contemplating a cricketing future without Jacques Kallis
The King is Dead. Long Live the King!
Jacques Kallis was stoic, even heroic, striding out to the crease, secure in the knowledge that his experience and ability – and perhaps most importantly, his temperament – would carry him and his team through.
By Michael Marnewick
With the Australians in town next month and the verbal barrage of insults we can expect, it is going to be temperament (and perhaps quality retorts from the South African batsmen) that plays one of the most vital roles in determining the series victory. Kallis' absence may well be keenly felt.
When he bowed out of test match cricket in the second test in Durban, it was the perfect end – scoring a century as a goodbye gift to the team (and fans) he has served with such great distinction since making his debut as a precociously-talented 20 year old, 18 years and 166 tests ago
He amassed 13289 test runs (at an average of 55.37 runs per innings) in his career and took 292 wickets, a quite unbelievable record. He has been rightly compared (and not found wanting) with Sir Garfield Sobers, and is arguably the finest all-rounder in the history of the game.
But he is gone from test cricket and we must move on. Platitudes and sentiment aside, we are the top test playing nation in the world and Kallis, while a valuable contributor, wasn't the only player in a team of 11.
Darryl Cullinan slammed the second test against India as 'the Kallis show" and rightly or wrongly, the game and a series-clincher shouldn't be about one man. And by placing too much emphasis on the abilities of one player detracts from the pressures and expectations that others must learn to handle and fulfil.
For, if a team relies on just two or three people to win the game for them – Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn – when those players fail, the rest of the team fail to react, to stand up and be counted. Because there is no expectation on them to do so.
A young player of immense talent who has disregarded convention and what is expected of him is Quinton de Kock. After earning a Man of the Series award for a hat-trick of centuries against India, he was somewhat controversially left out of the Test squad.
Based on what? His youth? His ability? Certainly the latter cannot be questioned, nor his temperament. He averages a shade under 50 in ODIs and isn't scared to contribute. He ain't shackled by convention.
I recall many years ago when Brian McMillan – a player very much in the mould of Kallis – was the mainstay of the South African batting attack. A youthful Lance Klusener came to the crease when McMillan was on about 80. Bludgeoning the ball all over the park – as he was wont to do – he quickly caught his partner with the pair both reaching their centuries around the same time. McMillan was patient. Klusener, with his devil-may-care cavalier attitude, brutal.
He went on to represent South Africa and contribute to cricket in an enormous way. Something I expect we will find with 21 year old de Kock. AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla were given plenty of opportunities in their early international careers and the support they knew they had gave them the freedom to play without the fear of being dropped.
For South Africa to retain their Number one status in Test cricket, de Kock simply has to be a part of the squad, sooner rather than later. A what better time to test him than against the Aussies?