Kallis has blossomed into one of the game's top all-rounders after a slow start to his international career.

As in Test matches, in one-day cricket he is worth his value as a batsman alone - a good VB series saw him get past 5,000 runs in the shortened form of the game.

Along the way, he has racked up eight centuries and 34 fifties at an average of more than 44.

His Test statistics are equally good, with a batting average now pushing 50 and more than 100 wickets to his name.

Exactly the sort of player every country would want to have in their team - and yet South Africa already have the world's other leading all-rounder in Shaun Pollock.