If the Proteas intend to defeat England in England a lot will rest on the shoulders of Jacques Kallis. But, and this is a massive but: can Kallis score in England. Footage in this compilation will suggest he cannot. Statistics tells a similar dismal story.
Kallis played 28 tests against England, he averages 44.58 and his runs include 7 centuries and 8 fifties. In South Africa he played England in 16 games, averaged 53.87 and his 1293 runs include 6 tons and 5 fifties. In 12 games in England he scored 1 380 runs with 1 hundred and 3 fifties at an average of 27.51.
In 1998 when Kallis was still establishing himself in the Protea middle order he played 5 games, scoring 194 runs at an average of 42 with 1 hundred and 1 fifty. In 2003 he played in all three tests and scored 188 runs at an average of 31.33 with only 1 fifty. In 2008 Kallis played in all 4 test and scored only 104 runs at an average of 14.85 with 1 fifty.
A matter that went unnoticed at the time was that Kallis played his first IPL series shortly before the England tour of 2008. His batting suffered hugely as a result and it was clear that he couldn’t adjust from the innovative shot making of T20 to the conservative approach to test cricket. In the IPL he did not use his feet and played away from his body in the direction of third man. With no slips in place in India it worked. With a packed cordon in England it cost him dearly. After the tour Kallis made the necessary adjustments although it took some time. With all the T20 games since Kallis became more aggressive in test cricket also, but he has mastered the transformation from T20 to ODI to tests.
Back to the compilation (Let’s look at the dismissals in the order they are shown on YOU TUBE – I will score the balls out of 10 to indicate whether Kallis was simply bad or how well the English bowled to him):
- Ryan Sidebottom bowls Kallis with an in-swinging yorker: 9.
- Darren Gough bowls an out-swinger on off-stump – Kallis nicks: 8.
- Dominic Cork bowls an out-swinger on off-stump – Kallis nicks: 8.
- James Anderson bowls a brilliant in-swinger – Kallis leave and is bowled: 9.
- James Anderson bowls another brilliant in-swinger – Kallis play on off-stump: 9.
- James Anderson bowls outside off – With a horizontal bat Kallis drags the ball onto the wickets – 7.
- James Anderson bowls an in-swinger outside off and hit Kallis outside line while playing a shot (should be not out): 8.
- Steve Harmison bowls an in-swinger and hits Kallis, who offers a shot, outside the line (should be not out): 7.
- Angus Fraser bowls an in-swinger outside off and hit Kallis en route to leg stump (unlucky to be given out): 7.
- Dominic Cork bowls outside off – Kallis pulls brutally to on-side and Mark Ramprakash takes one of the best: 5.
- Andrew Flintoff bowls the ball just outside off – Kallis plays an inside edge on the stumps: 7.
- Dominic Cork bowls outside off – Kallis play and miss – umpire decides there was an edge: 8.
- James Kirtley bowls outside off – Kallis nicks: 7.
- Martin Bicknell bowls full outside off – Kallis drives bizarrely with the score on 16/2 – Vaughan at close extra-cover take good catch: 4.
- Dominic Cork bowls a brilliant in-swinger just outside off: 9.
- Andrew Flintoff bowls a dipping beamer and hit Kallis who lost the ball in the flight high on the back leg – LBW to an unsporting ball that would have hit the stumps three quarters up – Kallis fuming: 10 for execution and 0 for sportsmanship.
- Steve Harmison bowls an out-swinger just outside off and Kallis nicks: 7.
- Steve Harmison bowls an out-swinger just outside off and Kallis nicks: 7.
The English bowled extremely well to Kallis in the past but he also felt victim to a few shabby umpire decisions. Kallis is very tentative against the quick swinging ball and doesn’t play forward as he should. The reason is probably his vulnerability to short balls and the fact that he took one or two blows to many in the past. On quick wickets he is often uncertain whether to play forward or back and as a result he often gets stuck in the crease.
So then, the question: Can Kallis succeed this time in England?
Yes, like one of his fans said: “he is mentally stronger than ever, has a rock solid defence, gargantuan stamina and concentration powers of a Buddhist priest.” Add to that his pride and the fact that this might be his last series in England.
In the three series he played in England he was mostly dismissed by Cork (4), Anderson (4), Harmison (3), and Freddie (2). Only Anderson is still playing and the recent series against the Windies showed that he lost pace. He still swings the ball, but not at the pace he did in 2008.
Stuart Broad might trouble Kallis but he is certainly not in the same league as Flintoff, Harmison, Cork or Gough.
Chris Tremlett is quick, accurate and bouncy but that won’t bother Kallis. Tremlett is fragile and with his long history of injuries he is always a doubtful starter.
Tim Bresnan, Graham Onions and Steven Finn are all hugely overrated and it is unlikely that they will bother Kallis.
As a great player of spin and given the spinner unfriendly England pitches, Graeme Swann will not trouble Kallis either.
The best time to get Kallis out is if he bats within 40 overs. If Alviro Petersen, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla wear Broad and Anderson down Kallis will be fine against a ball without any shine or swing.
Kallis’ success in England could also be determined by the way he deals with quick bouncers and Broad might trouble him. In the past Kallis had been badly struck and subsequently he decided to treat aggression with fire. Kallis is not a natural hooker of the cricket ball and England will always be in with a chance if he takes them on.
Early on Kallis should play forward as much as possible to take LBW’s out of the equation; but if he does he will be in for a barrage of short balls.
The best solution lies with Kallis’ batting partner: If he protects Kallis and face say 30 balls of the first 6 overs Kallis spends at the wicket he will allow the master batsman to adjust to the playing conditions.
Kallis is a good batter all over the globe. He played 68 games abroad and scored 5318 runs including 18 hundreds and 22 fifties at an average of 53.18.
In Australia he averaged 46 against the best quick bowlers of all times.
Since the dreaded tour in England Kallis scored 12 hundreds in 3 years; including two double centuries.
One last thing: Kallis loves his bowling and if he gets wickets he will gather momentum for when he bats. In the three series Kallis played in England he took 35 wickets. In 1998 he took 11, in 2003 14 and in 2008 10.
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To go about ranking all the deliveries that have got Kallis out in this compilation on a scale of 10 is somewht baseless. Even if one believes that all, or rather most of his dismissals in that video are a result of genuinely good bowling and not sub-standard batting- it still remains a question as to why Kallis, being the great batsman that he obviously is, couldn’t keep out those balls better.
I myself am a big fan of Kallis but feel like the author’s defence against the point highlighted in the compilation is somewhat pointless and assuming rather than factual or authentic.
A better defence would be that great sportsmen over the course of their long careers are very likely to have some places where don’t play as well as their career records suggest. And that such aberrations are common- call it luck, call it coincidence or call it incompetence, it doesn’t take much away from his exceptional career record overall. Even Dravid averages ~27 in SA- doesn’t make him a fail batsman, does it?
Finally, I’d look forward to seeing him do well in England this time around. Cheers and wishes from India
Hi Anshuman Mahanty you raise valid points; matters that I have pondered over for quite some time.
Yes Kallis has a bad track record in England but in South Africa Sachin is also far below his own average with 46.4.
The little great master found it even more difficult in Pakistan (40.1) and Zimbabwe (40).
Ponting and Chiv cannot bat in India; Sachin finds it difficult in Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa and Kallis in England and Australia.
It indeed seems that every top class batter struggles somewhere on the planet.
Well, what also matters is what you call as a “struggle”. You seem to be defining “struggle” in batting terms as having a lower batting average than your overall career average. With such a definition, many great batsmen are bound to be at a loss because of the weight of their own standards.
The standards should rather be uniform for all batsmen, as in anything below a 40 is not good enough and anything below a 35 is bad. With such uniform standards, you’ll find that Sachin hasn’t really failed in Pak, SA or Zim as you put it. He might have underperformed, but that’s according to his own standards- and we all know how high his own standards are, isn’t it?
Well that is convenient; I mean to establish 40 as the bottom-line.
Nope, for these guys anything under 46 -48 are unacceptable and in that context Tendulkar is maybe not that good; especially if Pakistan and Zimbabwe are brought into the equation.
Have a look at my new post, I would love to read your views.
Well there are a lot of factors that go into consideration- factors such as Tendulkar hasn’t played test cricket in Pakistan as much as he would probably have done had the relations between the two countries been better. You can only judge so little over what a batsman has done in a few number of test matches.
While Pakistan as a venue is a luxury for batsmen with it’s flat pitches, you also have to agree that for Tendulkar, playing against Pakistan in Pakistan is a much, much bigger pressure than it is for, say Ponting or Kallis. That pressure is something that comes with being an Indian- you just don’t want to lose against Pakistan !
And I’ll again stress on the point that setting higher benchmarks for top-class batsmen is sort of being unfair on them.
What both of us agree on is the fact that every top class batter seemingly struggles somewhere on the planet.
I’ll read your new post and comment on it soon. Enjoyed talking cricket with you, we’ll talk more about the game in the days to come hopefully.
Yes, there is a struggle: India versus Pakistan.
My goodness I enjoy those encounters as it are virtually wars.
The dynamics between India and Pakistan in general makes games between them as good as the Ashes.
Anyway, a while ago I wrote about the Ashes and the dynamics that it brings to the fore.
In that post I suggested that India and South Africa should have a similar cross continental contest.
Would love to have iconic Ind-SA test series played at regular intervals of time. SA are the only non-subcontinental team who don’t lose test series in India- they always are able to salvage a draw. India’s last tour to SA also was incredible.
A 5-match test series between these two teams with both the teams being at their peaks( like they were in 2010/11) should be great to watch.
Wow a whole article about how bad my youtube video is! Still, a 27 average is a 27 average.
Yes Robelinda2, 27 in England is a bother, especially because is where the Proteas are heading next.
Kallis tends to underperform against better teams and score prolifically against weaker teams – this maintains his reputation, based on stats alone. For example, last year he scored a mountain of runs against India and Sri Lanka but was underwhelming against Australia. When people look at his performance over 2011, it looks strong but masks his performance against Australia. The last time he came to Australia, he did virtually nothing with the bat. His reputation has been maintained because South Africa have the fast bowlers to win games and obscure his personal failures.
Your views are absolute distortions of the truth and a typical populist approach by those who criticize Kallis.
He averages 46 in Australia.
Ponting is SA 46. In England 44.
Tendulkar in SA 46.
Weak or strong? What is the criteria?
The last time India came here they were number 1 and Kallis demolished them.
In India he also demolished them.
Traditionally, or at least for the best part of Kallis’ career, England were a lesser force than India.
The only consistent strong team; i.e. # 1 in Kallis’ career was Australia.
According to people like you, Kallis is above criticism. Your comparisons to Ponting and Tendulkar lack meaning. Tendulkar averages more than Kallis in England and Australia, while playing for a team lacking fast bowlers like Donald, Pollock, Steyn and Morkel – that is a fact, whether you like it or not. That is the truth. If Kallis had to play his own bowlers, his average might have been lower. Kallis has never been subjected to any scrutiny – that’s why his failures never come to anyone’s attention.
South Africans, for some reason have this need to denigrate Tendulkar to elevate Kallis. That means that Kallis can’t stand on his own merits. Even Steyn was indecent enough to put Tendulkar down (saying he’s spent his WHOLE life scoring runs in India) so as to talk Kallis up. That Cape Town wicket is a much better batting wicket than alot of Indian wickets, I can assure you. Steyn even said that Kallis is a better batsman against Australia, when all the evidence suggests the opposite. This shows a lack of grace and respect for the game by a guy who is supposed to be one of SA’s great fast bowlers.
Oustide South Africa, noone cares about Kallis, because it is a team game and people know that South Africa has a few players who are better than him (Steyn, Smith, de Villiers, just to name a few).
Kallis may not be the best batsman in the world but he is certainly the most valuable player a team can possese,its not about saffers degrading tendulkar…everyone knows that tendulkar fails to deliver under pressure…dravid is a class apart,he is much better than tendulkar,its not me who is saying that,a lot of indians also agree,check out the related articles on cricinfo and u will c that even indian fans accept that tendulkar doesnt perform under pressure,its dravid or laxman who stand up….kallis is the greatest allrounder after sobers….and he will rock in england this time
kallis will prove himself.
he is gr8est batsmen i ever seen. he rocks in t20 test odi with both bat and bowl
If he has a week point it is the short ball. It had him in trouble in England in 1998, 2003 and 2008. The problem is that early one he neither plays back nor forward, because he always suspect a bouncer.
Short balls hardly ever got him out because he never hooked.
Because he is stuck in the crease, expecting bouncers, fullish or yorker-length balls troubles him.
Recently he started to move back and attack the short ball but with insufficient control.
He needs to play forward and duck or ride bouncers.
There is enough pace men around him to give him more than enough practise.
If he can play short balls from Morkel and Steyn he can play anyone.
Good post, makes sense
Thanks Powa.
Did you see my question in the previous post?
I am really looking for someone to create my post as I visualise it.
And then, I did not get internet notification of your comment: What must I do to be notified of comments?
Ons het vir Kallis en Smith nodig om groot beurte te speel as ons die reeks wil wen. Gaan bleddie goed wees, dis verseker
If the top order does well the team usually does well
Move to the full wordpress platform. Why struggle with a platform that doesn’t work properly. If you managed this one wp is easier and has much more to offer. Try it or boh and then decide