Why Kallis owes Donald a place in history

It was Bob Woolmer, in Colombo during the first days of August 1995 at the start of the South Africa under/24  tour of Sri Lanka, who drew attention to the all-round capabilities of Jacques Kallis.

Woolmer, not the sort to make errors when it comes to spotting players with rare talent, even admitted over dinner one night how Kallis had it in him to become as good as Brian McMillan. There were those who almost choked on their sweet and sour fish at such ambitious claims: the young man was just 19  and not noted as a bowler of any ability outside the nets.

The next day Woolmer had Kallis bowling in the nets to prove his point that Kallis would be the team's fourth seamer. He swung the ball nicely and moved it

off the seam at fair pace. Also in that Under/24 bowling attack was Shaun Pollock, Ross Veenstra, Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje.

In that first of three ``tests''  Kallis batted three and scored 80 during an innings lasting more than four hours; that it had followed a lengthy bowling spell of 39 overs during which he took five for 96 is a small matter work recording. Little wonder during a broiling afternoon's fielding session at P Saravanamutu Stadium in the first Under/24 ``test''  he joked how his ``radiator needed filling with petrol''.

For a multi-talented player he has an unassuming personality; always ready for a smile and a joke, even if he sometimes fails to catch the punchline.

Yet even Kallis would have to admit that his place in test history for performing a rare treble of a century, 50 and five wickets is owed more to Allan Donald's injury than his own ability to swing the ball more than most at Newlands the last two days of the fourth test against the West Indies.

There are those who would argue that he was playing more for his average in the second innings than bothering about that second century. It is a cockeyed view as he is the sort of batsman who plays into the vee - mid-odd to mid-on - in the manner of the players of far older, yet equally classical style of play, hits the ball wider as the score mounts.

But no one was prepared to suggest that had Donald been fit Kallis would not have taken the new ball on Tuesday afternoon and begin what is now chronicled one of the more intriguing feats in more than 120 years of test history.

To take five wickets on a batting surface you need to bowl a substantial  number of overs. And knowing Hansie Cronje's habit of pressing Donald into the attack to finish off the innings the South African skipper had little option but to give Kallis a 15 overs stretch, with the lunch break as a few minutes of rest, to keep one end going as he used Paul Adams, David Terbrugge and Pollock to bring a conclusion to a game which will always be known as ``Kallis' match''.

Now ... what was that about petrol for the radiator?