Wisden overview
The golden boy of South African cricket, Jacques Kallis has proved just about all there is to prove at the highest level, including fighting a lone hand, as he did against Australia in 2001-02, and an ability to return a five-wicket haul with the new ball, as he did in Barbados in March 2001. Described by one visiting journalist as "possessing the shoulders of a wildebeest", he is a fearsome prospect with the bat when he decides to cut loose, although more often he settles for being an old-style No. 3 with a textbook defence and a classical cover-drive. As a bowler, he has grown from a part-timer who could keep an end tight by aiming outside off stump into a genuine third seamer capable of high pace, hostility and outswing. During the few days of the year he spends at home, he can be found in some of Cape Town's trendier bars and restaurants, but the laid-back lifestyle disguises one of the fiercest competitive streaks in the game. Neil Manthorp

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