Jacques Kallis: From a Toddler to a King

‘I was not destined for Wynberg,’ Jacques Kallis once told me. ‘In 1980 we lived in Lakeside and no Junior School would accept me.  My father decided to send me to Zwaanswyk until someone must have intervened and found me a place at Wynberg Boys’ Junior School.’

JK - 1st XI 1992
Toddler?

Lucky for us. How different the cricketing history of this school over the last thirty years would have been if there had been no Jacques Kallis!

My first recollection of the young Kallis was in 1988 when he appeared with the rest of the Standard Fives (Grade 7’s) for our annual November new boy cricket afternoon.  In those days, we always had a prominent cricketing Old Boy saying a few words of welcome and that year it was the turn of Paddy Upton who had been the captain of the 1st X1 two years prior to this.

I have a clear recollection of Jacques – a really small boy batting in a helmet. Helmets were still a novelty at that stage in school cricket and he went into the net with the comments flying  - largely from the know-all first teamers who thought that they were there to impress the new recruits with their 1st X1 caps and white flannels.  However, their primary role was to assist with coaching and selection.  Jacques was seemingly impervious to these jibes – a trait which would become more evident as the years progressed.

Cape Times, 1992
Courtesy Simon Kidger via Charl Willoughby

He soon had a crowd congregating at the net as it was clear that here was a young talent with superb technique.  ‘Leave him to me,’ said 1st X1 left-arm seamer Aubrey Martyn, himself destined to be selected for a future Proteas tour of England in 1994.  He bowled off a few paces.  Chin tucked into the shoulder, bat and pad together, the thirteen-year-old Jacques executed an immaculate forward defensive.  If we could have seen into the future, bowlers round the world would soon come to dread that sight.

‘Huh,’ said Aubrey and extended his run up.  Same result.  Those who know Aubrey, are easily able to predict what happened next.  Aubrey paced out his full run up and bounced him.  Unmoved, little Jacques swayed backwards and the ball whistled passed harmlessly.

Aubrey gave up.  ‘He can play a bit,’ he sniffed at me before tossing the ball back to one of the other bowlers. He and Jacques would become team-mates in the WBHS Cape Schools’ Week team to Queenstown two years later.

One would think that Aubrey would have learnt about bowling to talented schoolboys.  Fifteen years later in an Old Boys match, he was tasked with defending 32 runs in three overs.  Richard Levi was the batsman. Aubrey pitched it short.  He went for 24 runs in the first over.  He was not required to bowl the final over - the match was already won by the school.

It is now safe to come back and play in the Old Boys’ matches again, Aubrey.  Richard Levi has left school.

Sitting under the trees watching on that first afternoon were Henry Kallis and his daughter, Janine.  They were on a blanket having a picnic of sandwiches and cooldrinks together. Clearly a close and loving family. This in itself was significant and, quite rightly, Henry was described recently by Mark Boucher as the ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ in Jacques’ life.  Until his death in 2003, Henry would be a regular and loyal supporter of Wynberg sport.

All those who were involved in Wynberg cricket in those years will remember Henry bowling to Jacques for hours in the school nets over weekends.  With his tracksuit pants inside out – so that he could have easy access to his cigarettes in the front pocket - he would send down endless medium pacers to his son.

In Grade 9, Jacques had the first real disappointment of his burgeoning cricketing career when he was not selected for the WP U15 team.  He was deemed by the selectors as being ‘too small’ to make it as a cricketer.  The irony was that his place was given to another Wynberg boy who would later become Wynberg’s most capped South African hockey player, Wayne Denne.  Today Wayne barely comes up to Jacques shoulders!

The Final Test

Jacques’ reaction to this setback established him in my eyes as being special.  He had come to my office to talk through where he was (apparently) falling short.   When I told him the view of the selectors, he looked at me intensely for a moment, then said: ‘I will show them, Sir,’ before turning on his heel and stalking out. 

Young cricketers could well learn from that.  No histrionics.  No blaming of selectors. No wringing of wrists.  Just ‘I will show them…’

And he has been showing them ever since!

Shortly after this in January 1991, he was selected for the 1st X1 tour to Pietermaritzburg for the Alexandra Week.  Jacques was sitting In front of me on the plane trip up next to Michael Fletcher, whose father, Duncan, was then the WP Coach. He made the mistake of saying to Michael, in my hearing, that he was a trifle nervous as it was his first flight.

I remember going for the throat.  As he was in a window seat, I advised Jacques to watch the wings carefully.  ‘If you see smoke coming out of the engines,’ I told him, ‘we are in a spot of bother. When the wings start flapping to compensate, then we are in real trouble.’

Jacques stared intently out of the window throughout the flight.  The panic began when the vapour  started swirling around the wings.  He and Michael must have had a dreadful flight.  I suspect that he told that story to his father who steadfastly refused ever to fly anywhere – even to watch Jacques in a test match.  There was one exception when Ali Bacher once gave him a ticket to fly to Durban for one particular test.  The plane wings must have flapped because he never flew again.

I was in the Proteas’ changing room after Jacques’ final test against India.  I reminded him of the story, thinking that it was high time that I finally made amends for terrorising a fifteen year old Jacques Kallis.  Fortunately for Wynberg / Kallis relations, he sportingly maintained that he had forgotten the incident…..

While in Durban for this same test match, I bumped into John Crawford a fellow guest in the Kingsmead Mynahs’ box.  He was the organiser of the Alexandra Week all those years before and clearly remembered the impact of a small blond boy in the Wynberg / Alex match.  ‘Kallis was instrumental in bowling us out for about 100,’ he reminisced. ‘Then he opened the batting and saw you chaps through to the end.’

They must have made us fight for our victory though, as it took us 38 overs and 5 wickets to reach the target!

The question of size came up in the selection meeting for the WP U18 Nuffield sides at the end of that year.  ‘All I hear from you is Kallis,’ said a fellow selector to me. ‘What is so special about him?  We have just as many good players at other schools.’

Fortunately he was still deemed good enough to be selected for the 1991 WP B side to attend Nuffield Week in Potchefstroom.  He was immediately given the affectionate nickname of the ‘Toddler’ which no doubt spurred him to return an all-round quality performance.  The following year – his Grade 11 year – he earned a WP A cap without any selector dissension.  He came to see me during that season and asked if I could help him acquire a sponsorship.

I remember my response well.  ‘Sponsorships aren’t given to anyone,’ I said. ‘You have to earn them.  Come back to me when you are wearing a SA cap.’ To help him achieve this aim, I asked the provincial coaches Robin Jackman and Hylton Ackerman to take special nets for our emerging star players – Jacques Kallis and Charl Willoughby.  Later Wendell Bossenger, Brandon Clark and Simon Hofmeyr were added to this.  It must have worked, because all these players wore national colours at some level. Robin and Hylton must be equally proud today.

In spite of still being the smallest boy in the side, Jacques was made captain of Wynberg cricket in his matric year by his new coach, Dave Russell.  Then it was announced that Jacques had made the 1993 SA U17 touring team to England and he was soon at my door.

www.kallis.co.za

I had made a promise and now had to fulfil it.  I rang Albie During of Lazer and quoted Aubrey Martyn, ‘this boy can play a bit…’  Fortunately Albie took my word for it and Jacques was signed up. He was loyal to Lazer for many years until the offers from the Big Guns just became too persuasive. ‘He wrote me a thank you letter at the end of every season,’ Albie told me years later. ‘Not many players did that.’

Addressing Wynberg Boys'
High School

The same message came back from Nicky Thorpe of Thorpe Motors who sponsored a car for Jacques for years.  National coach, Bob Woolmer, once told me after one overseas trip how astounded he was when two players sent him hand-written notes to thank him for the tour – Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis.

Jacques has never forgotten his roots and those who assisted him on the way. The Jacques Kallis Foundation and his regular trips back to his old school bear testament to this.  Cricket has given him everything – but he has certainly given back to the game.

It was clear that Jacques was destined for something special when we saw how he prepared for that U17 tour to England.  In his matric year, he was flyhalf for the First XV and after every home rugby game, while Henry was delayed in post-match festivities in the Bill Bowden Pavilion, he would take off his boots and go and bowl on his own in the concrete nets on the Silverhurst Fields. Regardless of weather, he would toil away for hours but would always accept – with alacrity – any offer of someone else bowling to him.  He would be totally unfazed by any comments, chirps or remarks.  He knew what he wanted from cricket.

"Our Hero"

I am often asked whether I would have predicted his success. I always give the same answer.  I have seen so many boys with talent go through this school.  However, success demands more than talent.  It demands a work ethic; it demands a mental strength to divert criticism and to fight back from disappointment; it demands humility; it demands luck.

Jacques’ luck was that he went from Wynberg to Claremont Cricket Club.  From there he was embraced by Western Province coach, Duncan Fletcher, the father of his erstwhile Wynberg team-mate.  Finally, he had the support and guidance of Bob Woolmer in the national side.  The importance of mentors for young men cannot be under-estimated.  Jacques never forgot any of them – from his father through to Bob Woolmer.  He mentioned them all in his speech to the world after his final test match in Durban.

Would I have predicted that he would turn out to be arguably the best cricketer that the world has seen?   As I stood on the stands at Kingsmead watching him walking round the field waving to the crowd, I reveled in the scene.  As the crowd chanted ‘Kallis! Kallis! Kallis!’, a message on the scoreboard flashed up:  ‘Farewell King Kallis’. I thought back to that little boy in a helmet at his first high school practice.  No-one could ever have predicted this scene all those years ago.

What a fantastic journey it has been to watch the Toddler become King.

Cape Times honours a favourite son.