Dear Editor,
As a West Indian fan I am glad to see the back of Jacques Kallis. In 24 Tests against us, he averaged 73.62 with eight centuries. He also took 52 wickets at 30.05. Of the Tests, West Indies won 2, lost 16, and drew 6. Kallis would bat third or fourth, and be an easy first-change bowler, coming at you at over 140 kph (89 mph). He was almost an unfair advantage, as Sobers was in the 60s. They would give you the luxury of playing an extra batter or bowler depending on the state of the pitch or quality of the opposition.
Kallis's retirement will leave a huge void in the South African Test team that will be impossible to fill. He is the only cricketer ever to score more than 11,000 runs and take 250 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket -- Sobers unfortunately played very little ODI cricket.
There are only two all-rounders in the history of cricket who would have been selected based on either their batting or bowling alone: Sobers and Kallis. Comparison of the two is near impossible and probably irrelevant. The fact remains that they are both in a class of their own.
So, although as a West Indian I am happy to see Kallis go, as a fan of cricket I am devastated; knowing that such a player comes only once in a lifetime.
Thanks, Jacques, for the magnificent memories. In my lifetime you have no peers.
Dr Nigel Camacho
Maraval
Trinidad
nigel.camacho@gmail.com
Jacques Kallis has no equal
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As a West Indian fan I am glad to see the back of Jacques Kallis. In 24 Tests against us, he averaged 73.62 with eight centuries. He also took 52 wickets at 30.05. Of the Tests, West Indies won 2, lost 16, and drew 6. Kallis would bat third or fourth, and be an easy first-change bowler, coming at you at over 140 kph (89 mph). He was almost an unfair advantage, as Sobers was in the 60s. They would give you the luxury of playing an extra batter or bowler depending on the state of the pitch or quality of the opposition.
Kallis's retirement will leave a huge void in the South African Test team that will be impossible to fill. He is the only cricketer ever to score more than 11,000 runs and take 250 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket -- Sobers unfortunately played very little ODI cricket.
There are only two all-rounders in the history of cricket who would have been selected based on either their batting or bowling alone: Sobers and Kallis. Comparison of the two is near impossible and probably irrelevant. The fact remains that they are both in a class of their own.
So, although as a West Indian I am happy to see Kallis go, as a fan of cricket I am devastated; knowing that such a player comes only once in a lifetime.
Thanks, Jacques, for the magnificent memories. In my lifetime you have no peers.
Dr Nigel Camacho
Maraval
Trinidad
nigel.camacho@gmail.com
Jacques Kallis has no equal
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