Kallis as good an all rounder there has ever been apart from Sobers

[Muloghonto]

I have a tough time rating the likes of Kallis & Ponting very highly. Predominantly because I cant move beyond the fact that these two made tons and tons of runs as top order batsmen when there were hardly any great pace bowlers going around but were average when there were great bowlers going around. Lets divide Kallis's career into two parts- one from 1995 to 2002 and one from 2003 to 2013. Why these particular numbers you ask ? Well, 2002, IIRC, is when a lot of the great fast bowlers retired or declined dramatically: Walsh, Ambrose, Wasim, Waqar, Gillespie were all either finishing their careers or in the case of Gillespie, being a pale shadow of himself. England too lost the best genuine fast bowler they've produced (that I've seen)- Darren Gough and Caddick, who IMO was a bigger menace than Anderson, too was done by this time. In this period, Kallis averaged an exact 50. Cool beans, some may say, right ? Well, in 7 years of cricket, he scored 200+ runs without being dismissed against Bangladesh, 500+ runs against Zimbabwe at a sick average of 250+ and ofcourse, beat the shyte out of our crappy Indian attack. Take away bangladesh & Zimbabwe, he averages 41.98. Take a 'against the best attacks' approach, ie, against Australia, Pakistan, West Indies and England (who were worldclass in their own & Saffie conditions back then), he averages 38.89 from 50+ dismissals. Again, not bad for the 90s, but not worldclass either. To be the best, IMO, you have to do what the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Viv, Sobers, Gavaskar, Steve Waugh, etc. accomplished: not just bash minnows to bits but also stand up and be counted as worldclass against top notch attacks. Incidentally, after 2002, the only pace attack left that would be 'worldclass' would be Australia ( South Africa does not count obviously, since we are talking about Kallis) and Kallis did not average 50+ in a series versus Australia till 2009...after McGrath & Gillespie retired. Is kallis a great allrounder ? no doubt, some may say one of the best. Is Kallis a great batsman- against average/mediocre bowling attacks, I would take Kallis first - before even Sachin. But against top notch pace attacks ? No, Kallis is not a great, never was, he was average. Some may see this as nitpicking, but my point has always been this: Why bother with who is a great/not great arguments if you arn't willing to consider how they did against fellow greats ? Are you really picking an alltime XI or a 'best XI of the last 20 years' to face Zimbabwe or another great team ? If its the latter case, then shouldn't runs scored against Olonga or Mortaza not be of much import as opposed to runs scored against Wasim or Mcgrath ? IMO, this is what seperates Kallis and Sobers and why Sobers will remain the best batting allrounder (or pure allrounder some may say) by a country mile: for while their bowling were comparable ( Kallis was shielded better in terms of workload than Sobers) , Sobers was a bonafide great batsman who singlehandedly scored truckloads of runs against worldclass bowling attacks featuring the likes of Trueman, Statham, the spin quartets and even bashed Lillee lead Aussie bowling attack to bits in the twilight of his career. Sobers was a batsman of Tendulkar-Lara class, Kallis was not. That should end the argument to who's the best allrounder ever, really.