Jacques Kallis' Birthday: Celebrating influence of family and Bob Woolmer on his cricket legacy

1. Transformation of Kallis by the late Bob Woolmer

The legendary coach Late Bob Woolmer shaped the careers of many international cricket stars. But little is known about Woolmer when it comes to Jacques Kallis. The former South Africa pacer and legend, Allan Donald, once during an interview revealed that Woolmer had astonishingly predicted and said in a bold remark that he had a practice session with Kallis. Notably, in those days, the all rounder was then playing with Wynberg Boys' high school.

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Woolmer had declared that the young prodigy would become one of the greatest cricketers the world would ever get to see after watching him. In fact, the legendary coach was the person who taught Kallis how to deal with the pressure of international cricket and flourish under it without getting perturbed by it. Years later as it turned out, as recalled by Donald about a Test played in Melbourne in 1997, Kallis batted for hours and scored a memorable century for a match-saving cause. Speaking of his career, Kallis featured in 519 international games and scored 25,534 international runs with 62 centuries and 577 wickets in his illustrious career for South Africa.