All eyes on Kallis as Proteas do-or-die
Newlands stats back struggling batsman to find form
Jacques Kallis writes his name into the history books today as he notches up his 150th Test in a game where a win against Sri Lanka is the only thing the national side’s fans will accept.
KEY South African batsman Jacques Kallis will be keen to atone for his pair of ducks against Sri Lanka in Durban last week, and he can achieve the notable feat of having scored a century against all the Test nations if he turns around his form at Newlands in the decider.
Proteas captain Graeme Smith said yesterday that the South African players had given Kallis a bit of stick for his runless performance at Kingsmead.
The all-rounder will of course feel right at home at Newlands, his home ground, and he will have become the first South African to play in 150 Tests in the clash which started today.
The veteran all-rounder may have had a poor home season so far – he had scored just 31 runs in his three innings against the Sri Lankans before today’s showdown – but, like the rest of the Proteas, there will be a spike in confidence due to them playing at a ground where they have good memories.
South Africa have only lost to Australia at Newlands since readmission. They have won 15 out of 23 Tests at the ground in that period, with five draws and three defeats against the Aussies.
A look at Kallis’s stats for the ground show he has scored 1 874 runs there at an average of 72.07, which is nearly 16 runs per innings better than his career average of 56.24.
In that total he has hit eight half-centuries and the same number of hundreds, and he would like nothing better than to improve on his best of 87 against the Indian Ocean islanders.
In the corresponding Test against India a year ago Kallis scored two centuries, although the match ultimately ended in a draw.
Kallis, though, brings much more than his batting to the South African team – his superb slip catching and 270 wickets at 32.72 mark him as a special player, although as the fourth highest run-getter of all time in the five-day game, he could yet eclipse all but India’s Sachin Tendulkar, depending on how long the other two men ahead of him, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting, continue playing.
So far Kallis, 36, has seen action in 14 of the 19 Tests the Proteas have played against Sri Lanka. His batting average of 30.45 against Tillakaratne Dilshan’s side is only slightly more than half his career average.
At least the Proteas have had good series results against Sri Lanka. In four home series, the tourists had not won a match in nine attempts until last week, and Sri Lanka had lost the series by at least two clear games on their three previous visits.
Just as the South African batting department is no oneman show, Sri Lanka can call on a range of players with con- trasting styles, who can set up winning positions.
Mahela Jayawardene became the ninth man to reach 10 000 runs during the current series, and the next top-order mainstay likely to reach that landmark is 34-year-old lefthander and former captain Kumar Sangakkara.
His century in Durban last week was critical in ramming home the Sri Lankans’ advantage after they had fashioned a sizable first innings lead.
That hundred was his third against South Africa and he has reached three figures against all the Test-playing nations, except Australia, at least twice. His Test careerhigh score of 287 came against SA in Colombo in 2006.
Sangakkara is no longer wicketkeeper for Sri Lanka, and the team is benefiting from having him concentrate more of his energies on batting.
As a keeper in 48 Tests his batting average was a decent 40.48, but without the gloves that statistic has rocketed to 70.01, in 57 Tests.
The huge contribution to their teams of both Kallis and Sangakkara, the top-ranked batsman in Tests at the moment, is evident from figures which show they average significantly more in Tests they have played in which their sides have won.
How much history will count for in the third Test remains to be seen. Certainly Sri Lanka pulled up their socks remarkably in levelling the series 1-1 at Kingsmead last week.
The Proteas, though, would prefer to reprise the Newlands result of the 2000/01 series when they beat the tourists by an innings and 229 runs – still their heaviest Test defeat.
The three Sri Lankan survivors from that match still in the squad are Sangakkara, Jayawardene and seamer Dilhara Fernando.