Props to Jacques Kallis

[iDon]

rideclutch totally agree. Even at his current age and not bowling as much, he still is more than capable of popping up with 2/3 wickets (see latest test) to supplement an already excellent bowling attack. He still remains a threat to face, certainly cant afford to switch off at all when he has ball in hand. He doesn't offer the respite that some 'all rounders' do. At the very least you dont take 270 wickets at 32 if you arent a genuinely good bowler.

Not sure what rock you have been under, but the last test was his first multi-wicket innings in 20 tests and averaging something like 60. Hardly a bloke you would throw the ball to.

Its quite evident that he is concentrating on his batting now and IMO he is going to be remembered more as a batsman then anything else.

 

[Lemma]

Well yes he's definitely a batting all-rounder

 

[Spook]

Not sure what rock you have been under, but the last test was his first multi-wicket innings in 20 tests and averaging something like 60. Hardly a bloke you would throw the ball to.

Its quite evident that he is concentrating on his batting now and IMO he is going to be remembered more as a batsman then anything else.

You are right, due to his back injury and his age he has only been a fill-in 5th bowler for the last 20 odd tests..... BUT that does not delete his record prior to that!. Do we say Warne is no longer a great becuase he hasn't taken a test wickets in years? No.
Some posters opinion is that he is the best allrounder of his generation even if he has not been a 'real' all rounder for the last 20 test..... but he was for the 130 test prior to that. After his 130th test he had taken 257 test wickets at 30.93......

 

[Butts_JZZ30]

Not sure what rock you have been under, but the last test was his first multi-wicket innings in 20 tests and averaging something like 60. Hardly a bloke you would throw the ball to.

Its quite evident that he is concentrating on his batting now and IMO he is going to be remembered more as a batsman then anything else.

hence why I said 'he is still more than capable of" as evidenced by ....

lordy...

 

[jackster83]

Probably worth mentioning that he's increased his batting strike rate in recent years too. I'd put that down to having de Villiers and Amla around him in the batting order as opposed to years gone by when SA had an ordinary middle order and he'd always find himself batting with the tail (who were no mugs with the bat I should add).

The fact that he is talked about as an all-rounder probably hurts him in the greatest batsman discussions despite of his record. I'd have him above Ponting, Sangakarra and Dravid and below Tendulkar who I rate as the best of this generation. Probably on par with Lara, although Lara is definitely the better ODI player.

On a side note, it's funny how despite their brilliance, all these guys struggled as captains (yes I know Ponting has most test wins but his captaincy was shown to be shite when things weren't going his way).

 

[Glacier]

I find it amazing how underrated Kallis seems to be in cricketing circles, especially in Australia. Here's a batsmen who has gone about his business , averaging high fifties for year after year. I personally love to watch him bat, how he builds an innings, his unorthodox front press stance but especially how he seems to be able to zone his concentration to a point where nothing seems to jolt him, a level of concentration that any aspiring jnr could learn from.
I definitely would bracket him up there with the greatest batsmen of all time, let alone of the modern day. I rate him above Tendulkar( who I love to watch !!), Ponting and Lara simply because he just seems like a machine with very rare downturns in form, recent pair taken into account !!
Big call, but he is my favorite by a fair way