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

The cricket world has seen many legends gracing the game and scoring truckloads of runs or tormenting batters with their impeccable bowling skills. Moreover, there are some players did had both the abilities of batting and bowling equally well but very rarely won the match for their teams single-handedly. However, there is one legend from South Africa who stands apart from these players. The reason? He was so adept with both the bat and the ball in the hand that more often than not, he turned the tide of the game in the team's favour.

Today October 16, marks the birthday of one of the most influential and legendary all rounder. South Africa's Jacques Henry Kallis, who was born in Cape Town, turned 49 years old today. We often talk about records and the sheer brilliance of the legend on the field, but very rarely the early struggles and the role of a family in a cricketer's life is discussed in the public domain. Besides, one more person who transformed the game of Kallis was the renowned coach, Late Bob Woolmer.

Kallis was known for sharing a very close bond with his father, Henry Kallis. However, he was one of those unfortunate people who lost their mother at an early age. Then later on, in 2003, his father succumbed to lung cancer. Besides his father, the legend has another important person in his life in the form of his sister, Janine. Both of them showed unwavering support from the early days which shaped up the legendary South African's achievements.

Hence on his birthday, let us peep into how Kallis' illustrious career was shaped:

3. Role of father Henry Kallis

When it comes to the role of a parent while getting a player trained, most times fathers either teach or tell the technical aspects of the game. But Henry's role was different from other parents. The key reason for that is in sports most times parents want their kids to do well and under that pretext they tend to push them harder than needed.

As a result, many are not able to deal with immense pressure first from their homes and then the stiff competition on the pitch with peers and opponents. While some parents end up taking their kids to a coach to hone their skills. But the beautiful part about Henry was that during Kallis' formative years, he ensured to be the bowler on the other side of the wicket. Hence as a parent not only did he guide him through knowledge and words of encouragement but also was involved in making Jacques Kallis practice.