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I am as big a Kallis fan as the next guy, don’t get me wrong, I think he is a legend with a capital ‘L’. In my opinion, he is the greatest talent South African cricket has ever produced (followed by Dale Steyn).
But still the Proteas (or Kallis, if reports are to be believed) have to make a decision: either pick him for ODI’s, or force him to retire from that format.
Kallis is at that age where players very rapidly start to go into decline. And even in Tests his strongest format of the game Kallis has been on the wane of late.
He shouldn’t make the same mistakes as messrs Ponting and Tendulkar and hang on too long, rather do a Gary Kirsten by retiring on a high and make sure you will be missed.
Don’t get me wrong, I still believe he has what it takes in the Test arena.
If reports about Kallis are true it seems he is picking and choosing when to play, but knowing media this could be a bald-faced lie.
If it is true then it doesn’t inspire confidence. If Kallis wants to make it to the next World Cup and he has any say on whether or not he plays, he better play as often as he can. The public are very fickle, and other players may step up to the plate and make him redundant.
I doubt this is the case, though. I think the truth is Russel Domingo is looking at Kallis as a fringe squad player for 2015. It just wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
The only other alternative is that Kallis is central to the Proteas plans and Domingo is just finalising his ideas on who will make the CWC squad and so he is giving some outside player a chance in the interim. I would find this worrying. I think if Domingo is doing the latter it is an unwise move. You want to have your oldest players keeping themselves in good nick, because like I said, you never know when that decline will come.
But still the Proteas (or Kallis, if reports are to be believed) have to make a decision: either pick him for ODI’s, or force him to retire from that format.
Kallis is at that age where players very rapidly start to go into decline. And even in Tests his strongest format of the game Kallis has been on the wane of late.
He shouldn’t make the same mistakes as messrs Ponting and Tendulkar and hang on too long, rather do a Gary Kirsten by retiring on a high and make sure you will be missed.
Don’t get me wrong, I still believe he has what it takes in the Test arena.
If reports about Kallis are true it seems he is picking and choosing when to play, but knowing media this could be a bald-faced lie.
If it is true then it doesn’t inspire confidence. If Kallis wants to make it to the next World Cup and he has any say on whether or not he plays, he better play as often as he can. The public are very fickle, and other players may step up to the plate and make him redundant.
I doubt this is the case, though. I think the truth is Russel Domingo is looking at Kallis as a fringe squad player for 2015. It just wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
The only other alternative is that Kallis is central to the Proteas plans and Domingo is just finalising his ideas on who will make the CWC squad and so he is giving some outside player a chance in the interim. I would find this worrying. I think if Domingo is doing the latter it is an unwise move. You want to have your oldest players keeping themselves in good nick, because like I said, you never know when that decline will come.
