Jacques Kallis' debut in International Cricket

One of South Africa’s cricketing legends, Jacques Kallis, made his debut for South Africa in December 1995 against England at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban, South Africa. Kallis was selected for the Third Test of the series against England ahead of all-rounder Clive Eksteen when the first two Tests ended in draws. South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje won the toss at Durban, and decided to bat first. Kallis walked out to bat at number six following the dismissal of batsman Daryl Cullinan. He lasted just 12 deliviries before English bowler Peter Martin had him caught behind for 1. Rain forced no play on Days 4 and 5 of the Test match and the game ended in a draw with England ending their first innings total at 152-5.

A month later, in January 1996, Kallis made his ODI debut for South Africa in the follow-up One Day series against England. Kallis struck a solid 38 off 65 balls coming in to bat at number seven, as South Africa reached a total of 211-8 after their 50 overs. Kallis’ anchor-like innings rescued the South Africans from a precarious 107-6, when he walked out to bat, to a more formidable score of 211, which proved to be 6 runs too many for the England team to chase. Shaun Pollock also made his ODI debut for South Africa in the same game, and took home the Man-of-the-Match award for his 66* with the bat, and 4-34 with the ball. South Africa lost the next match at Bloemfontein by 5 wickets, but never looked back after that, winning five consecutive games on the trot to secure the series 6-1.

On 12 July 2014, Kallis played his last ever international match for South Africa at Hambantota against Sri Lanka. Kallis, coming in to bat at number three, was dismissed for just 4 by left arm spinner Rangana Herath to bring an end to an illustrious cricketing career spanning 18 years each of both Test and ODI cricket. Regarded by a few as the greatest Cricketer to have played the game, Kallis ended up with unbelievable stats as he picked up close to 600 wickets with the ball and scored more than 25,000 runs with the bat with 62 centuries in his international career.