October 16th

Some trvia for today's birthday boy.

Jacques Kallis likes batting in the 3rd innings of a Test when South Africa are setting up a declaration.

His 107* in South Africa’s 2nd innings against Pakistan at Lahore just the other day is the 5th century that he has made in the 3rd innings of a match in which South Africa has declared. In all, he has batted 19 times in these situations and scored 1264 runs with 5 centuries and 6 fifties. With the help of 10 not outs, he averages 140.44 in these innings.

Only Matthew Hayden has more runs and centuries in 3rd innings that have been declared. He has scored 1352 runs and 8 centuries in 18 innings in this situation. As an opening batsman, he has been less adept at collecting asterisks when the declaration is imminent than Kallis and his average is a mere 79.52 by comparison.

Another master of 3rd innings declaration innings was Garry Sobers. In 10 innings he scored 906 runs at a useful average of 181.20. Like Kallis he has 5 centuries.

And, in case you are wondering what Don Bradman did in these situations: 3 innings, 241 runs, average 120.50, 1 century and 1 fifty.