South African batsman Jacques Kallis’s extraordinary capacity to score a glut of runs against the West Indies continued unabated on Saturday as he reached his fourth consecutive Test century and moved within a breath of shattering a 93-year-old record.
At stumps on the second day of the fourth and final Test at Centurion, the West Indies had made seven without loss in response to South Africa’s mammoth 604 for six declared.
Kallis, in making an undefeated 130, became the first South African batsman to make four centuries in four consecutive Tests.
Alan Melville, either side of World War II, scored four centuries in three Tests.
Another, perhaps more telling, record beckons Kallis.
Needing 151 runs at the start of his knock to eclipse Aubrey Faulkner’s South African record of the most runs in a series, Kallis is just 21 runs shy of the milestone.
Faulkner made 732 runs in the five-match series against Australia in 1910-11.
Whether or not Kallis gets the opportunity to bat again this match depends entirely on the West Indies batsman.
Despite getting so close when captain Graeme Smith declared the innings closed, Kallis insisted he was quite happy with the decision.
”I have no problem with it at all,” said Kallis. ”I’m not really much of a stats guy. In fact, the only record I was aware of was the four centuries in a row.”
Often criticised for not accelerating and dominating an attack, Kallis cut loose with a frenzy of boundaries after securing his 15th Test century and fifth against the hapless Windies.
He struck six of the most glorious boundaries to score his 30, post-century, runs in 13 deliveries.
As well as Kallis batted, he was given the freedom to do so after Herschelle Gibbs made 192, his third century this series.
In making those runs, Gibbs passed the highest score made to date by a South African against the West Indies. Kallis, unsurprisingly, held the previous best against the West Indies of 177, made during the first Test at the Wanderers in December.
Resuming on their overnight 302 for one, South Africa first lost Jacques Rudolph for 37 after the young Titan had made the most of the running in the extended morning session.
Rudolph, who contributed 37 of the initial 50 runs he put on with Gibbs, looked set for his third Test half century when Fidel Edwards ripped his middle stump from the ground.
Gibbs, after struggling to get the ball off the square initially, responded to the demise of Rudolph by flicking Mervyn Dillon over mid-wicket for six.
In the next over Kallis hooked Fidel Edwards for six and then rolled his wrist the following ball to pull him for four more to move rapidly to double figures.
The brief exchange set the tone for the rest of the innings.
Having survived that shaky start, Gibbs played some wonderful strokes and was denied his third double century by the softest of dismissals.
Gibbs steered the innocuous spin of Ramnaresh Sarwan straight to Daren Ganga at point and, six overs later, Gary Kirsten offered the spinner a simple return catch when he had 10.
Neil McKenzie, however, made 40 in putting on 86 with Kallis to push South Africa past the 500 mark.
By scoring in excess of 500 in Pretoria, South Africa became only the second side in history to manage four consecutive first-innings tallies of 500 or more. Australia was the first to achieve the feat in 1968-69.
Having made 12 centuries this series, South Africa matched Australia and Pakistan for the most centuries scored by a country in a series.
Australia scored a dozen tons against the Windies in 1954-55 while Pakistan achieved the feat against India in 1982-83. — Sapa