Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever to play the game, he is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler. As of 2022, Kallis is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 10,000 runs and take over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test match cricket. He also took 131 ODI catches. He scored 13,289 runs in his Test match career, took 292 wickets, and 200 catches. Kallis won 23 Man-of-the-Match awards, the most by any player in Test history. 

Early career and 1996 Cricket World Cup

Kallis attended and played cricket for Wynberg Boys' High School. In 2009 Wynberg honoured Kallis by naming their main cricket oval after him. As a teenager, Kallis had a brief spell with Netherfield CC in England where he established himself in Northern England – Kallis was only 19 when he spent a summer at Parkside Road back in 1995, returning 791 runs at an average of 98.87 from 14 matches before making his Test debut against England later that year. 

His breakthrough came in 1997, with 61 against Pakistan, and then two matches later, he salvaged a draw for South Africa with a fighting century against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

1998–2002

Between 1998 and 2002, Jacques Kallis was one of the world's leading all-rounders, as seen in the ICC's cricket ratings. In 1998, he led South Africa to the ICC Champions Trophy title with two "Man of the Match" and the "Player of the Series" performances. 

2003–2014

Kallis is one of only four players in Test history (after Sir Donald Bradman and before Mohammad Yousuf and Gautam Gambhir) to make a century in five consecutive matches, which he achieved in the 2003/04 season. For his performances in 2004, 2005, and 2008, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC. He was also named in the World ODI XI by the ICC for the year 2004 and 12th man for XI in 2005. He was also selected for the ODI XI in 2007 as well. In 2005, he set the record for the fastest half-century in Test cricket history, scoring 50 against Zimbabwe off only 24 balls. In 2007, Kallis scored five centuries in four Tests, making him just the fourth man after Bradman, Ken Barrington and Matthew Hayden to score four centuries in four Tests on two different occasions. Kallis has a remarkable batting average in the mid-50s, and was consistently rated as one of the best batsmen in the world. 

In the 2007 World Cup, Kallis was South Africa's leading run-scorer with 485 runs at 80.83. He was, however, criticized in the press for scoring slowly, which cost South Africa momentum at key stages in the tournament. In August 2007, he was omitted from the 15-man South Africa squad for 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and consequently resigned as vice-captain. 

In January 2012, Kallis scored his highest score in Tests – 224 against Sri Lanka at Newlands. The last eight series that Kallis played in for South Africa were all victories for the Proteas, except for one series draw against Pakistan in the UAE. Kallis became one of the few players in world cricket to have won two series each in England and Australia. The Proteas also won two series against New Zealand and one against each of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, and Australia.

The senior all-rounder (2008–2013)

In 2008 more responsibility was placed on Kallis as an all-rounder due to the retirement of Shaun Pollock. Despite the pressure, an all-rounder began to emerge in Wayne Parnell who did some good lower-order batting. Kallis endured an uncharacteristically poor 2008 with the bat, averaging well under thirty for much of it. Against the ninth-ranked Bangladesh, he averaged just 25.75 in four Test outings. He also played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, where he averaged 16.85 runs per innings with the bat and 55.5 runs per wicket with the ball at an economy rate of 9.65 in the 7 matches he played before he was dropped.

Injuries, continued achievement and records

Kallis participated in the tour of the West Indies, in which he scored his 35th test cricket century. Kallis injured his neck during the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and missed the Twenty20 and ODI series against Zimbabwe. He returned for the ODI series against Pakistan, scoring 66 before having to retire hurt with a cramp. He did, however, manage to lay the foundations for an eight-wicket victory.

For his performances in 2010 and 2012, he was named in the Cricinfo IPL X.

Coaching career

Kallis was appointed head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders in October 2015 when head coach Trevor Bayliss resigned to take over as head coach of England cricket team in June 2015. Kallis was also batting consultant of KKR for 2015 Indian Premier League season.

In December 2019, Kallis was appointed as batting consultant for South Africa national cricket team. As of late 2020 he is a batting consultant for the England national cricket team.

Personal life

Kallis shared a close relationship with his father, Henry, whom Kallis cited as his primary influence. His sister Janine Kallis, five years his junior, was a cheerleader in Indian Premier League 2009 and is also a physiotherapist based in East London. When it was discovered that his father had terminal cancer, Kallis took time out of cricket to be with his father:

We heard something was wrong with my dad during the  World Cup. He started feeling unwell and then, out of the blue, we were told he only had a few months to live. It was a huge shock because we've always been a very close family. I missed the first couple of Tests in England that year so I could be at home with him. It was obviously the saddest time of my life but those last weeks were maybe some of the most beautiful. It gave me a chance to say thank you and goodbye. After a while, I realized how lucky I was to do that. It's far harder if a parent is taken away before you have that time together. So his death put cricket in perspective for me. It's just a game – and a very simple game if you keep your mind straight.

In January 2019, Kallis married Charlene Engels. The couple has a son, Joshua Henry Kallis, born on 11 March 2020.

Achievements and records

Jacques Kallis has achieved the following career-best rankings in the cricket ratings as determined by the International Cricket Council 3:

• Test Batting: career-best 1st; career-high points 935
• Test Bowling: career-best 6th; career-high points 742
• Test All-rounders: career-best 1st; career-high points 616
• ODI Batting: career-best 1st; career-high points 817
• ODI Bowling: career-best 15th; career-high points 641
• ODI All-rounders: career-best 1st; career-high points 506
• 1st & only player in cricket history to achieve the mark of 10,000 runs in Tests & ODI each and more than 200 wickets in the Tests and ODIs each
• He was also the first bowler to take a fifer in ICC Champions Trophy history.
• He was also the only bowler to take a 5 wicket haul in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy (in the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy tournament)
• Kallis was also the first player to bag the Player of the final, as well as the Player of the Tournament awards in ICC Champions Trophy.
• He along with Graeme Smith set the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket as debutants in T20 Internationals (84 for the 1st wicket)
• He holds the record for a most man of the matches in Test Cricket – 23.

Career Stats