South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis was named the world’s top cricketer for last year after scoring more test runs than anyone else in the year.
The 32-year-old Kallis hit 1,210 runs at an average of 86.42 and took 20 wickets for just 25.75 runs each to become the fifth player to win Wisden cricket almanac’s annual award after Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Andrew Flintoff and last year’s winner, Muttiah Muralitharan.
The award is decided by journalists and editors at Wisden, which has been published yearly since 1864.
“Plenty of other players performed mighty deeds, but the South African surpassed himself,” Peter Roebuck wrote in Wisden’s 2008 edition, which was published yesterday. “Kallis will look back at 2007 as the year he cut loose, the year he dared to dominate a match and even a series.”
“It was the year he came to understand that greatness cannot be attained till the chains have been broken,” said Roebuck, who called Kallis “the first indisputably great African cricketer of the post-apartheid era.”
Kallis hit 987 runs in 27 one-day internationals.
Ian Bell, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ottis Gibson, Ryan Sidebottom and Zaheer Khan were named as Wisden’s traditional five Cricketers of the Year.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Frenchman Romain Gregoire could hardly believe his luck on Saturday watching the lead group of about 12 riders take a wrong turn at a roundabout at the Ardeche Classic. The slip follows a similar incident at The Volta ao Algarve last week where Gregoire was also present. On Saturday it was the lead group, including race favorite and defending champion Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates, who made the embarrassing gaffe. “I have to admit it’s a very strange feeling with these riders who made a mistake 300m from the line,” said Groupama-FDJ rider Gregoire, who held his head in disbelief at the
RSS