The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver

Mr Jacques Henry Kallis Awarded for:

His excellent contribution to the sport of cricket and for placing South Africa on the world sporting map with his brilliance. His stellar career and commitment to the sport inspired many young people to aim for excellence.

Mr Jacques Henry Kallis was born in Pinelands, Western Cape on 16 October 1975. He is a former South African cricketer and the current coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise cricket team representing the City of Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. As a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Kallis is regarded as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, all-rounders.

He played 166 test matches and had a batting average of over 55 runs per innings. From October to December 2007, he scored five centuries in four test matches; with his century in the second innings of the third test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Australia’s Ricky Ponting to become the second highest scorer of test centuries, behind only India’s Sachin Tendulkar’s 51.

Kallis was named Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2008 Wisden for his performances in 2007, in addition to being the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Player of the Year and ICC Player of the Year in 2005.

He has been described by South African-born England cricketer, Kevin Pietersen, and Daryll Cullinan as the greatest cricketer to play the game and along with Wally Hammond and Sir Garry Sobers, is one of the few Test all-rounders whose test batting average is over 50 and exceeds his test bowling average by 20 or more.

He became the fourth player and first South African to score 13 000 Test runs on an eventful opening day of the first test against New Zealand on 2 January 2013. Having also taken 292 Test wickets, he lies third behind Indian player Sachin Tendulkar (15 921) and Australian Ricky Ponting (13 378) on the list of all-time run scorers in test cricket.

Kallis was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year in 2013. He retired from Test and first-class cricket after playing in the second test against India in Durban in December 2013.