Ponting: Kallis is the best cricketer ever

Ex-Australia captain Ricky Ponting says former Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis is the greatest cricketer of all time.

In 166 Tests, Kallis scored 13,289 runs at an average of 55.37, with 45 hundreds and 58 fifties, while also taking 292 wickets at an average of 32.65.

“Jacques Kallis is the best cricketer who has ever played. I don’t care I don’t care about everybody else,” Ponting said on The Howie Games podcast on YouTube.

“Jacques Kallis is the full stop for me. Thiteen thousand runs – 44 or 45 Test centuries and 300 wickets. He has had an amazing career. You can take 300 Test wickets, and you can score 45 Test centuries but to do both feats at the same time is amazing. Jacques has done both.”

Ponting pointed out that Kallis was an excellent fielder too.

“Unorthodox in the slips, didn’t drop anything in the slips, had a sort of funny technique, caught everything.”

Ponting – who himself scored 13,378 runs in 168 Tests at an average of 51.85 – said Kallis wasn’t as highly regarded as players like Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara for non-cricketing reasons.

“I think he’s the best and the most underrated because he’s not talked about very much at all. Probably because of his personality and his character. He’s not out there.

“He’s low-key, yeah. Hasn’t done much media work. So, he’s sort of one of those forgotten-about ones a little bit.”