Kallis becomes 4th cricket player to pass 13,000 test runs

CAPE TOWN, South Africa: Jacques Kallis became just the fourth player to pass 13,000 test runs on Wednesday, putting the quietly spoken South African within sight of another significant achievement in a prodigious career in which he already has claims at being his country’s greatest cricketer and the world’s best ever allrounder.
The 37-year-old Kallis can this year overtake Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs) and Ricky Ponting (13,378), who are retired, to become the second highest run-scorer in test history behind the incomparable Sachin Tendulkar.
And he still hasn’t thought about retiring and ending his rich 18-year career.
Tendulkar’s mark of 15,645, which “the Little Master” can still add to, is likely out of reach. But although Kallis has consistently refrained from talking about retirement — and insists he wants to play at the 2015 World Cup — finishing at No. 2 on the test batting list having also taken nearly 300 test wickets will be viewed as a landmark for cricket’s allrounders for years to come.
“When I go through these good patches I try to keep them going because I can remember back to when I started, when things were tough, and that keeps me going,” said Kallis, whose recent form has been as good as it’s ever been. “I also enjoy winning games of cricket. Most of all, I enjoy playing cricket.”
Kallis joined Indian pair Tendulkar and Dravid and former Australia captain Ponting past 13,000 with a push down to third man for four off Doug Bracewell on the first day of the first test against New Zealand at Newlands. He reached the milestone at his treasured home ground and within a stone’s throw of where he went to school.
He passed the career milestone in his 159th test and on a record-filled day in Cape Town and — like during many of his 44 career centuries — he made little fuss over it and gave away little emotion.
Now recognized as a once-in-a-generation player in his home county, he quickly recognized the applause from his home city’s fans and returned to the job of adding to South Africa’s already significant first-innings lead. He registered his 57th test 50 in typically calm fashion and eventually fell for 60 to take his career total to 13,040 test runs.
His 44 test hundreds are also second only to Tendulkar’s 51 and the introverted Kallis is now clearly viewed as one of the game’s greats — all after a difficult start to his career and, almost unbelievably now, significant criticism at home in the middle part of his career that he wasn’t able to dominate bowlers the way greats do.
That has changed.
“I’ve probably got a little bit more recognition now but it’s something I’ve never really played the game for,” Kallis said. “It’s suited me, the way my personality is and the way I played the game, to slip under the radar. It’s what I enjoy doing. I don’t take anything for granted. I make sure I put in the hard work behind the scenes.”
Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn had earlier become the joint third fastest bowler to 300 wickets with the first of his two wickets in the morning, helping send New Zealand to 45 all out, its third lowest score ever, the equal 12th lowest in test history and the lowest at Newlands in over 100 years.
Steyn reached 300 wickets in his 61st test, the joint third-fastest player to 300 and behind only feared Australia fast bowler Dennis Lillee (56 matches) and Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (58).
But while Steyn’s legacy and career is still to be fully realized, Kallis has underlined his rare and lasting value over and over, combining world-class batting talent with the ability to also remove the world’s best batsmen with his fast-medium bowling.
Away from his batting, those uncomfortably fast right-arm seamers have brought Kallis 282 test wickets so far, putting him fifth overall on South Africa’s list of test wicket-takers and — incredibly — leaving him not far off joining Steyn, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini as the only South Africans to reach 300 career wickets.
As a batsman or a bowler alone, Kallis’ statistics are impressive. Together, they quietly tell the story of a remarkable cricketer that South Africa will miss mightily when he does retire. Although that may not be for a little while yet — he hasn’t yet even thought about retiring.
“The only thing I think about now is management,” he said. “Missing a few of the one-day games to prolong my test career and to try and maybe get to the next World Cup. I certainly haven’t thought anything near retirement yet. I’m probably batting as well as I have in my career.”