Graeme Swann and Jacques Kallis might be poles apart in personality, but both were distinctly old-school, writes Ian Chappell in his tribute
u00a0The game has lost what even the most demanding north of England league cricket supporter would describe as: “A couple of good-‘uns,” in the last few days.
The abrupt retirement and ensuing Twitter controversy told us much about the quirky personality of England’s highly successful off-spinner Graeme Swann. On the field he was as traditional as they come; an old school offie who relied on curve and drop from a hard spun delivery and a simple “straight one”, all delivered with a pleasingly clean action in an era where most off-spinners lean heavily on the style of Paul Simon’s One-Trick Pony - “a herky-jerky motion”.
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Off the field - so I’m told - Swann was an inveterate stirrer with his twitter observations and eccentric originality, which produced his Ashes celebration “sprinkler dance”.
England players including Graeme Swann (extreme right) have a chat with SA’s Jacques Kallis during the Cape Town Test on January 5, 2010. Pic/Getty Images.
In an era of bland interviews and highly controlled sporting media conferences, Swann will be missed as much for his originality of thought, as he will for his highly efficient off-spin.
Just days after Swann’s controversial retirement, the game lost the calm and clinical efficiency of the most successful all-rounder in Test history when South Africa’s Jacques Kallis pronounced his departure with all the fanfare of an airline announcement. Kallis left the game in the same way he graced it; with no fuss, no controversy but a lot ofu00a0dignity.
In years to come young cricket fans will wonder - as they gaze upon the cold, hard statistics - what the old-timers were gushing about when they opined; “Garry Sobers is the best cricketer of all time.”
Kallis’ record is phenomenal. There is no one, not even the highly gifted Sobers, who can match him for statistical all-round efficiency. In Test cricket alone he averaged in the mid-fifties with the bat, bowled at a lively pace to capture nearly three hundred victims and completed two hundred catches.u00a0Most cricketers would leave the game smugly satisfied with any one of those achievements to his name.
Clinical efficiency
Kallis played with such clinical efficiency that his statistical success crept up on you like a father playing hide-and-seek with his kids. His batting - full of aesthetically pleasing cover-drives and powerful pull shots - relied on technical efficiency and consistency rather than headline grabbing starring roles. Whereas Sobers made news with six sixes in a first-class over, the South African was a postscript in a match report; “Oh, and incidentally Kallis made a sound century, batting all day to dig his team out of a deep hole.”
Kallis never took control of a game when he batted but there was a period in the mid-2000’s when it looked like he’d mastered it. Even during this period of high-scoring consistency, Kallis was as low profile as the average MI5 agent. The only information you could glean about the man was what you found in the scorebooks.u00a0However, Kallis’ influence in the South African dressing room was far greater than what his glitteringly ample record shows. He was as old-time as cricketers come; enjoying a beer after stumps and readily available if a younger teammate needed advice or counseling.
By all reports he was a teammate to be valued but the only time this was revealed publicly was when his good friend Mark Boucher suffered a career ending eye injury. He offered a rare public insight into his feelings but quickly reverted to type by allowing his bat to speak volumes; his first Test innings after Boucher’s injury was a clinically constructed century dedicated to his close pal. Swann and Kallis might be poles apart in personality but in one thing they were closely allied; as cricketers they were distinctly old-school. Swann eschewed a funky action and gimmicky deliveries, relying purely on good old-fashioned guile and guts to bamboozle his opponents. In an era of intense media scrutiny Kallis defied the odds to become cricket’s statistical superstar while remaining a virtual unknown.
Apart from being distinctly “old school” they have one other thing in common - the game will sorely miss them both.
Kallis
Tests: 166
Runs: 13,174
Average: 55.12
100s: 44
50s: 58
Catches: 200
Wickets: 292
Average: 32.65
Best bowling: 6/54
Swann
Tests: 60
Runs: 1370
Average: 22.09
100s: Nil
50s: 5
Catches: 54
Wickets: 255
Average: 29.96
Best bowling: 6/65
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