Former Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting previously highlighted that one of the game's best all-rounders has been overlooked, despite recording over 25,000 runs and 577 international wickets.
Ponting, 50, who captained Australia’s test team for seven years between 2004 and 2011, is also widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of all time, having scored 27,843 runs and 71 hundreds in his international career.
‘Punter’ played alongside some of the greatest players during his time, including spin bowler Shane Warne and pace bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, while also competing against India icon Sachin Tendulkar as well as England legends Kevin Pietersen and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, just to name a few.
But it was another former star who Ponting dubbed as “the most underrated” cricketer, who is “sort of forgotten” by the wider public.
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Jacques Kallis, 50, played for South Africa between 1995 and 2014, a period during which he registered over 13,289 runs at an average of 55.37 while also taking 292 wickets and 200 catches.
The Cape Town-born all-rounder, according to Ponting, does not get the credit he deserves for an illustrious career despite being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2020.
There were very few weaknesses in Kallis’ game, with every asset from fielding to batting often being of the highest quality.
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The one blot on his career, it could be argued, is the fact that he failed to win or even reach the final of the five World Cups he played in, although he did average 80.8 across his nine innings during the 2007 tournament.
Still, his prowess in the game is recognised by his former peers, with Ponting even describing him as “just a born cricketer” when the Aussie spoke on The Howie Games podcast.
“Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer who has ever played,” Ponting explained.
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“I don’t care, I don’t care about everybody else.
“Jacques Kallis is the full stop for me. Thirteen thousand runs – 44 or 45 Test centuries and 300 wickets. He has had an amazing career. You can take 300 Test wickets, and you can score 45 Test centuries, but to do both feats at the same time is amazing. Jacques has done both.
“I think he’s the best and the most underrated because he’s not talked about very much at all. Probably because of his personality and his character. He’s not out there.
“He’s low-key, yeah. Hasn’t done much media work. So, he’s sort of one of those forgotten-about ones a little bit.”
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These days, Kallis is involved in cricket coaching while he also runs a foundation in his native South Africa that helps those from a disadvantaged background through sports and mentoring.
Topics: Cricket, Australia, South Africa
Luke Davies