A chance meeting with Jacque Kallis

Subject: A chance meeting with Jacque Kallis

One of the delights of waking up and being stimulated to write is that an emotion stirred can then be fleshed out to find what at the bottom of it. The mental research you do within your memory is somehow sharpened by the act of writing and recall.
This morning I hit the button on NowTV, my short flirtation with sky sports (I bought a weeks pass for £10) usually I buy a stint with them when I want to watch a special event and it's not on terrestrial TV.
They were showing a piece on Jacque Kallis the great cricketing all rounder, snippets of his innings as batsman, bowler and tremendous fielder. His record speaks for itself. Eye watering statistics with the bat and equally eye watering with the ball. His catching and territorial supremacy in the field sealed off that part of the ground as a no go area for opposing batsmen.
The stats say it all:- 10,000 runs and 250 wickets in 'both' the Test and OCI formats of the game as well as catching 200 Test Match catches and 131 in the OCI game.
His temperament and his demeanour both on and off the pitch made him a generally good egg to everyone who came into contact with him.
It was the accolades from his peers in South African cricket, the equally great Graeme Pollack and his son Shaun, Jonty Rhodes, Peter Kirsten, Barry Richards,  a list of unimpeachably great cricketers from a golden age in South African cricket, singing their tribute and praise on the great man.
But it wasn't just that, it was she shots of Newlands with the mountain in the back-ground and the fond memories that it brought.
Cricket in South Africa was not played behind closed doors with players sealed off as in this country. The players were ordinary South Africans but with special gifts. Taking Andrew to Wanders to practice in the nets one was as likely to have in the adjacent net one of the top test players practicing. The stimulation for young South Africans to see and speak to their heroes was inestimable and contributed to the sense of confidence South Africans had in those days.
The crisp sunlit stadiums, the knowledgable friendly crowd, the glorious ability with bat and ball made a day out watching cricket very special. Rain rarely stopped play, and the drive or walk to and from the ground was a pleasure, passing through the sunlit trees which bordered the roads and graceful houses of the surrounding suburbs.
The Long Room bar in Wanderers and its equally famous equivalent in Newlands where my friends in Cape Town from Southern Life used to drag me struggling (?) for a drink at lunch time is now but a memory but a memory I'm very lucky to have.