Kallis is “thoroughly enjoying” his cricket and is raring to go after a long break from the game. © Getty Images
Jacques Kallis said he felt refreshed after a three-month break from cricket and was raring to go in the first Test against Pakistan, starting in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 14).
Kallis, who returned to domestic cricket after his break, played the last of his 162 Tests against Pakistan in February this year, and hasn’t played a limited-overs international since early 2012.
“After 17-18 years, I needed a good three months away, so it’s been a pleasurable period where I could refresh my mind and get a little niggle sorted out,” said Kallis.
Kallis, who hit a confident 70 in the drawn warm-up game against Pakistan A last week, said he was playing at his best. “I am hitting the ball as well as I have ever hit and probably playing the best cricket of my life. From that point of view, it’s been two weeks of good work,” he said.
Key to South Africa’s chances in the series will be their approach against Pakistan’s spinners, and Kallis was confident of doing the job well. “As a team we probably play spin as well as anybody,” he said. “Our record shows that. Our players have got some good game plans against it and we’ve scored some big runs and got some good results in the subcontinent.”
Saeed Ajmal, who picked up ten wickets against South Africa in Cape Town earlier this year, has been talked up as the man who could make the difference between the two sides, but Kallis seemed wary of focussing on just one opposition bowler. “He (Ajmal) is still a good bowler anywhere around the world but in his own conditions he’ll be a bit more of a handful here,” said Kallis. “We are not looking at one bowler specifically, we’re taking it as a group. Any one of them can knock us over, that’s the way we are focusing on it.”
Kallis, who will be 38 on the third day of the Test, said his hunger to keep improving hadn’t diminished. “I still feel and act at times like a teenager,” he said. “The guys keep me young here and when you play in a team which is playing good cricket, you forget about that kind of stuff.
“I’m still thoroughly enjoying my cricket and as I’ve said, the day I wake up and don’t want to do this anymore and don’t feel like going out to improve as a player is the day I will call it quits.”
Kallis even harboured hopes of playing in the 2015 World Cup. “At this stage the goal is to try and get through to that World Cup 2015. That will be the icing on the cake but you have to put in your performances, nobody is guaranteed a place in the side,” he said.
South Africa have not lost an away series since the 2-0 defeat in Sri Lanka in 2006, and they have only lost one series against Pakistan, which was ten years ago. Apart from the two Tests, the teams will play five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals as part of the series.
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