Jacques Kallis is the greatest all rounder that has ever played the sport of cricket. In both Test Cricket and ODI Cricket he is one of the only few who has more than 11000 runs and more than 270 Wickets in both Test and ODI Cricket. In Test Cricket he has played 166 Test Matches for South Africa. He has scored 13289 Runs at an amazing average of 55.37. He has hit 45 Test Hundreds which is the second most of all time after Sachin Tendulkar who has 51. He has also hit 2 double hundreds with a highest score of 224. He has also taken 292 Wickets in Test Cricket. He has taken 5 Five Wicket Hauls at an average of 32.65. He is certainly one of the greatest South African cricketers.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best Performances of Jacques Kallis in Test Cricket
Batting Performances
1) 224 vs Sri Lanka (2012)
The best batting performance of Jacques Kallis in Test Cricket was this 224 that he made against Sri Lanka in 2012. South Africa were batting first in this Test match. Kallis was batting at number 4 in this match. He made a brilliant 224 runs in 325 balls. He had a great strike rate of 68.92. Jacques Kallis hit 31 fours and 1 six in this innings meaning a total of 130 runs in boundaries. Along with him there were hundreds from AB De Villiers and Alviro Peterson. South Africa won this match by a whopping 10 Wickets.
2) 201* vs India (2010)
This was the first double hundred that Kallis made in his Test Career. This was against India in 2010. It was in the second innings of this Test Match after South Africa had bowled out India for just 136. Jacques Kallis made an unbeaten 201 not out from 270 balls. He had a very good string of 74.44 in this Innings. Jacques Kallis smashed 15 fours and 5 sixes in this innings meaning 90 runs in boundaries. He ran for 111 runs in this innings. He was supported by Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers who also got big hundreds and South Africa hit a mammoth 620 runs. They won the match by an innings and 25 runs.
3) 186 vs New Zealand (2007)
This was one of his best hundreds while batting in the second innings. He needed to step up for South Africa. He made a breathtaking 186 runs in the second innings and he made these in 262 balls. He hit 25 fours and 3 sixes meaning 118 runs came in boundaries. He had a great strike rate of 71 in this innings. He can smash a hundred against any bowling attack in the world. Hashim Amla was also at his best as he hit an unbeaten 179 and South Africa won this match by a big margin of 358 runs.
Bowling Performances
4) 6/67 vs West Indies (2001)
One of the best bowling performances of Jacques Kallis in Test Cricket came in 2001 in this Test match against West Indies. It was in the first batting innings of the West Indies. Kallis bowled a massive 36 overs which is a lot for a fast bowler. He took 6 wickets for 67 runs in this innings at 1.86 runs per over. He took the wickets of Marlon Samuels, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper. He became known as a great all rounder after this performance. In the fourth Innings of this test match he took 2 wickets for 34 Runs.
5) 3/38 and 6/54 vs England (2003)
This was one of the most complete bowling performances that Jacques Kallis ever produced in his career. This was his second Six Wicket Haul in Test Cricket. In the first batting innings for England, he bowled 20.1 overs and he took 3 wickets for just 38 runs. He broke the back of England and he took the wickets of Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher. Then in the fourth innings of this Test match he took 6 wickets for 54 runs in 17 overs at 3 runs per over. He took the wickets of Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Andrew Flintoff. South Africa won this match by 191 Runs. Kallis took a total of 9 wickets for 92 runs.
