Wednesday 30 July 2014
Jacques Kallis retires from all forms of International Cricket
Jacques Henry Kallis, one of the greatest all-rounders the game has ever seen, announced his retirement from Test cricket last year though he had planned to finish his career at the ICC Cricket World Cup next year in Australia/New Zealand in February-March.
However, he surprisingly decided to call it quits on a glorious One_day Career as well just 6 months before the Cricket Extravaganza.
"I realised in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far," he said.
"I just knew on that tour that I was done. The squad that was in Sri Lanka is an amazing one and I believe they have a good chance of bringing the trophy home in March.
"I would like to thank Cricket South Africa, the team, the team sponsors, my sponsors, the fans and all the people who have been involved in my career. It has been an amazing journey."
Kallis will still play Cricket at Club Level though.
"I am not retiring from all cricket as I have a two-year contract with the Sydney Thunder and, if possible, to help the Kolkata Knight Riders defend the IPL title we won earlier this year," he said.
Kallis is the only cricketer to have piled on more than 11,000 runs & take 250 wickets in both Test & ODI cricket.
He truly was a pillar of strength in the South African team for more than a decade. He ends his ODI career with 11,579 runs in 328 matches including 17 hundreds at an astonishing average of 44.36
"He is undeniably one of the greatest players ever to have graced our wonderful game and he has certainly been the Proteas standard-bearer of excellence for nearly two decades." said Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat.
"South Africa has been blessed with one of the world's greatest cricketing talents in Jacques Kallis,"
