"Kallis
In all those matches Kallis played in only one game and his stats in that game was as follows:-
Runs made - 50
Balls faced - 71
Minutes played - 90
Strike rate - 70,42
RPO - 4,22
Not a house on fire – his strike rate and RPO was too low for comfort. Nonetheless Kallis was rested with a view to the WC about 15 months away."
This is what happens when you refuse to observe the issue of context because you do not have the ability to look beyond the figures in front of you.
When you look at that particular game in its totality you would notice a few things. In principle, there are two important observations to be made, i.e
A. Kallis did indeed make 50 runs of 71 balls in 90 minutes at a strike rate of 73.42 at a rate of 4.22 runs per over.
B. Unlike what our "esteemed expert"from Riversdale would like to believe, his little series of "stats" (figures) is not the end of the argument. It, indeed, is actually the beginning of the argument.
If the series of figures is only the beginning of the argument, what then is the rest of the argument? IMO, looking at the scorecard in total, this is it:
1. Kallis came on when Graeme Smith was dismissed with the total on 20.
2. The three batsmen before Kallis were obviously trying to force the run rate and failed to do so by only losing their wickets cheaply. Someone had to steady the ship. Kallis was the man to do that and he did just that. The fact that he was involved in three partnerships bear testament to that.
3. In addition to his batting performance, one has to remember that he also bowled eight overs in Pakistan's batting spell.
4. Kallis eventually went on to score at a rate above that of the entire SA run rate of 4.04.
5. Apart from the initial series of figures there are some other figures that needs some attention as well. Cricinfo, in their effort to evaluate a match always have their two best batsmen of the match and their two best bowlers of the match. The two best bowlers were first Dale Steyn and Pakistan's Bilawal Bhatti. The best batsmen were first Jacques Kallis and second JP Duminy.
6. In their evaluation they also calculate the batsman's control of his batting. Kallis got 90% for control and Duminy got 88%. This refers to the margin of control a batsman has over the shots that he played.
Despite what our aforementioned "esteemed expert" thinks about Kallis' batting performance in this match, the guys at Cricinfo drastically disagrees with him, using the same stats that he has used and more. Their evaluation of the stats as well as what their observers saw, allowed them to make these remarks in their report on the match:
"South Africa's oldest and youngest players put on the team's highest partnership - 42. Kallis appeared in particularly good nick, hitting Junaid when he was too full and too short, launching Hafeez over midwicket and pulling Bhatti. He ushered de Kock through nervous periods but the left-hand batsman eventually played a lazy drive and was bowled through the gap between bat and pad"
The fact that we lost that match had nothing to do with Kallis' strike rate and run rate being "too low for comfort" . This was what ESPN Cricinfo had to say about the loss of the match:
"In hindsight, South Africa paid for the many chances they missed in the field. Despite the seamers employing tight lines and using the short ball well, it took South Africa 15.2 overs to make the first breakthrough. By then Nasir Jamshed, who was let off three times, and Ahmed Shehzad had posted 49."