Jacques Kallis will become only the fourth player in history to make three one-day international hundreds in successive games if he makes a century for South Africa against England at Old Trafford here on Thursday.
Kallis (27) made 107 in South Africa’s six wicket triangular series defeat against England at The Oval and followed that up 24 hours later with an unbeaten 125 in the 46-run win over Zimbabwe at Canterbury.
”I’ve never got three in three,” Kallis told reporters at Old Trafford on Wednesday as he contemplated equalling the achievement of team-mate Herschelle Gibbs, who made three one-day international hundreds in a row last year.
Gibbs achieved the feat with centuries against Kenya and India in the Champions Trophy tournament in Sri Lanka before making a career-best 153 against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom in October.
The only other players to have hit three successive one-day international hundreds were Pakistanis Zaheer Abbas, in 1982/83 against India, and Saeed Anwar, against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Sri Lanka in 1993/94.
Like Zaheer, who played for Gloucestershire, Kallis has had experience of English county cricket after spells in the 1990s with Middlesex and Glamorgan.
”My balance has been good and that’s important in England. The wickets are a lot slower so you’ve got to hit the ball later.
”In South Africa the ball comes on to the bat quicker so you can get away with not always being balanced.
”Here if you miss the ball you’re more likely to be lbw because the ball does not go over the top of the stumps as often.
”Playing in England, against different bowlers and on different grounds, helped my game tremendously.”
Kallis, a lively pace bowler as well as a top-class batsman, has been playing in the shadow of his father Henry’s battle against cancer.
”It has given me a different perspective. Playing for your country is still a great honour but it’s not the be all and end all. There are a lot of people worse off than I am.”
Kallis missed South Africa’s tour of Bangladesh so he could spend more time with his father and arrived late in England following the death of his uncle.
But, in cricketing terms, he said of his break from the game: ”It’s done me the world of good, having three months off.”
However Kallis, despite his good form, downplayed his chances of making three hundreds in a row.
”Each innings is different and it only takes one ball to get you out.”
Asked how he coped with the pressure of expectation, Kallis replied: ”I try not to think too much about what people think.” Sapa-AFP