Last summer I waged a lone war against the world’s best cricket all-rounder. Simply put, I contend that Jacques Kallis should not be playing one day cricket (and definitely not 20:20!!). (PS – if you don’t know what cricket is, or who Jacques is, then just skip this post).
Yesterday, a South African XI played a Kallis Invitation XI as part of Jacque Kallis’ benefit year. It was an exhibition match (including Lara, Rhodes (bowling!), Kirsten, and Donald), and in the true tradition of these types of games was meant to be a great spectacle. The SA team batted first, posting 258 (see full match summary here). Kallis’ team started the run chase badly, with AB de Villiers back in the hut after only 2 balls. But this brought the man of the moment to the wicket… What would he do in this benefit game? Would we see the Kallis who holds the record for the fastest test 50 of all time? The blindingly brilliant batsman who can dominate an attack and is impervious to sledging?
No, we got to see the Kallis who most often arrives at one day games! Horrificly slow batting. Kallis’ one day batting record shows him to be equally impervious to the actual match state. His team needed to score in excess of 5 runs per over, yet he managed to take 48 minutes and 32 balls to score all of 10 runs! And by the time he was out, his team was 24/2 after 12.3 overs! They managed to recover well, but just fell short, losing by 3 runs in the end. Even the retired Rhodes managed 12 off of 10 balls, and retired Kirsten got 22 off of 17.
Over the past 5 years, Jacques Kallis has established himself as the world’s best batsman-allrounder. In the longer versions of the game, he is supreme, and would be my first choice number 3 batsman and second change bowler in any test match, in any conditions. But Jacques has never grasped the one day version of the game. As a bowler, he is not enough striker, nor enough container, to be a good enough one day bowler. He is a stock filler bowler who can do a job, but not much more. So, he makes the one day team on the basis of his batting. And here, I part way with the cricket experts (I am a “couch coach”). Jacques Kallis isn’t a one day batsman’s big toe! (In other words, he totally sucks at it). Its not that he couldn’t be brilliant – he could be, and I live in hope that he will be… this summer.
But his record is putrid. He has made some great 100’s, yes. But nearly all of them were batting second, and his team lost! (Trust me, I spent last December holidays entertaining myself by analysing every single one of his innings (check out Stats Guru at CricInfo). So, they shouldn’t count. Hundreds don’t win one-day games! Fast runs do!
OK, you might get bored with this one man vendetta I have. If so, just ignore it.
But the reason I am on this mission, is that it is a great story:
When do you get rid of your best talent?
You do so when the rules of the game change, and your talent doesn’t!!!
More on this later this season, as (I predict) Kallis continues to disappoint and frustrate his one-day team mates and supporters.
Oh dear, here we go again
This is the warehousing trend – we hold onto the talent come hell or high water – even though they may not be doing anything worthwhile in the interim. Why? Because it is so difficult to find it! And then we have the Tom Peters’y NFL coach approach: field your best talent.
To remain your best talent, talent needs to change with the times. U2 as a case in point – the music scene has undergone numerous face-lifts (rule-changes) in the last 3 decade, but their ability to stay on top if through these changes distinguishes them as supreme talent.
In the second game of the series, (see details here), all except one of the batsmen in the first innings went at better than a run a ball, amassing a formidable 384 in 50 overs.
Kallis made 19 runs, in 21 balls (not a bad strike rate under normal conditions, but when you’re chasing nearly 8 an over from the outset, seems mighty slow). He took 52 minutes to do it!
I warn you again, if you’re not interested in this, just ignore it 🙂
This is going to be a long cricket season….Glad to see your still passionate on the subject. I think its a case of going with what you know and trust, but with talent like AB,Dippenaar and the likes waiting and gaining experience along the way, the scale has to start tipping in their favour soon. Experience and match temprement are still the key.
I don’t want to get boring about this, BUT…
In a warm up exhibition match for the World XI ODI squad against Victoria, Kallis contributed 6 runs in 13 balls (eventual team total = 281). See here.
The openers had put on 63 at about a run a ball. Then in came Jacques…
He did OK with the ball. 2 for 34 in 6 overs (the two wickets were important with that number of runs…)
Not good enough, IMHO>
JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH…
When Kallis doesn’t do the job at his end, he puts inordinate pressure on the person he is batting with. This is true in companies, too, of course. A talented staff member, with a reputation, who then starts shirking on his duties, or doesn’t quite keep up with changes taking place, puts serious pressue on everyone else in the company.
Playing in the opening game of the ICC World Series, for the World XI vs Australia today, Kallis got 8 runs off 23 balls (chasing 256).
Not good enough.
More info on Jacques misfortunes in ODIs can be found at http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/10/07/knowing-what-youre-good-at.
And, YES, I AM on a mission here.