Kallis Savours 'special' Landmark At Home

[pirra_gichhutha]

[url="http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-sri-lanka-2011/content/current/player/45789.html"]Jacques Kallis[/url]' first double-hundred was celebrated with a golf swing, a salute to the heavens and a massive sigh of relief. It had taken him 143 Tests to reach the landmark and end speculation that he was unable to take the step into triple-figures that begin with a 2. Just 13 innings later, he achieved what had once eluded him for a decade and a half, again. This time, Kallis celebrated with a leap and swipe of the bat, a laugh and a swagger.

To get a double-century once was proving a point. To get it twice was simply a cause for celebration. "They are both special," Kallis said. "But the special part is probably getting it at Newlands, especially with the series being 1-1. It's nice to be one of those guys who puts in a big performance."

Prior to the deciding Test, Graeme Smith described Kallis as "the most stubborn man in the world." Smith said that although the team as a whole was hurting from the Durban defeat, Kallis was probably stung the hardest because of his poor showings with the bat in the summer so far. In four innings against Australia he scored 58 and in the previous two against Sri Lanka managed only 31 in three innings, including the first pair of his career.

Kallis said the bad press didn't bother him, especially because he "doesn't really read newspapers." Suggestions in the local press have been that he needs more careful management but Kallis swatted that away with disdain. "You don't become a bad player overnight," he said. "It's crazy to see stuff like that getting written, that you're old and you can't do this or that, come on, seriously."