A West Indian's tribute to Jacques Kallis

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 8 centuries and took 52 wickets at 30.05. In those 24 Tests, West Indies won 2, lost 16 and drew 6. Kallis would bat 3 or 4, and be an easy first change bowler. Coming at you at over 140 km/h (89 mph), he was almost an unfair advantage, as Sobers was in the 60's. They both 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' retirement will leave a huge void in the South African Test team that will be impossible to fill. Kallis 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 allrounders 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 impossible and probably irrelevant. Based on personal bias one could justify one over the other, however the fact remains 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 a such a player might come only once in a lifetime.

Thanks Jacques for the magnificent memories. In my lifetime, you have no peers.

- Dr. Nigel Camacho is a cricket fan, a board member of Queen's Park Cricket Club, and perhaps best known as the original convenor of the Trini Posse.