MTN Championship
Kallis in ankle scare
2010-01-22 19:59
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Jacques Kallis (Gallo Images)
Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writerCape Town – With the Proteas’ tour of India looming fast, the sight of their influential all-rounder Jacques Kallis “rolling” his ankle in an MTN40 semi-final at Paarl on Friday evening would have had the national team’s brains trust wincing with him.
The in-form veteran was turning for a run at the non-striker’s end, shortly after reaching a half-century for the Warriors against his former franchise the Cape Cobras, when he lost balance slightly and went over awkwardly on the right ankle.
He was in immediate discomfort and the visiting team’s physio was summoned to the middle, but Kallis resumed fairly quickly and appeared to “run off” the problem even if he continued to look a bit ginger while dashing between the wickets.
Whether he has suffered any damage may only become apparent once he takes his weight off the ankle for a while.
The 34-year-old went on to register a crisp, unbeaten 73 off 55 balls as the Warriors totalled a fairly formidable 274 for four in their 40 overs on the slow Boland Park track.
Mickey Arthur and company will be praying that Kallis has not picked up another significant injury as he only recently recovered fully from a rib fracture and his savvy as a seam bowler will be almost as important in India as his ever-reliable batting.
Kallis averages 55.70 as a batsman from seven Tests in India, slightly better than his career average of 54.56 from 135 appearances.
Serious business in the two-Test and three-ODI tour begins with the first Test at Nagpur from February 6.
