Jacques Kallis, the former South African cricketer has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made by the ICC, cricket’s international governing body, on Sunday morning.

Kallis is generally considered to be one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game, and is along with Barbadian, Sir Gary Sobers, thought of as one of the best all-rounders to have graced the sport.

Kallis played 166 Tests and scored over 13 000 runs, at an average of better than 55. He also took 292 wickets, as well as 200 catches. He also played 328 one-day internationals, making nearly 12 000 runs at an average of nearly 45, with 273 wickets.

Zaheer Abbas, who played for Pakistan in the 1970s and 1980s was another inductee, as was Lisa Sthalekar, who played for the Australian women’s team.

Kallis was quoted as saying: ‘It is something that I never expected when I started playing. I certainly did not play the game for any accolades or anything like that, I only wanted to win the games for whoever I was playing for. But it is nice to be recognised when one has succeeded in the sport, it is nice to be recognised by people for something that you have achieved in the game.’

Kallis is the fourth South African to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, after batsmen Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards, and fast bowler Allan Donald.

Image: Wikimedia Commons


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