This week, two great all-rounders have made the headlines: one aged 34, the other aged 36; one has retired, the other continues with great success. The younger man, Andrew Flintoff, has chosen now, in a BBC documentary that depression during the disastrous Ashes series in 2006-7 signalled the deterioration in his play, an increase in his boozing and ultimately early retirement. The older player, Jacques Kallis has today achieved his highest Test score.
Both made their names as youngsters, Kallis debuting for South Africa at barely 20 while 'Freddie' was still in his teens when he played his first Test in July 1998. Guess who was his first wicket? Yes, Jacques Kallis! And who was the man who ended his first innings? Yes, JK again!! Of course, Flintoff had a lot on his plate. As a big burly Lancastrian, he was often lumbered with that other 'B' word early in his career - Botham. Freddie's bulk and an unhealthy diet of booze, fags and fast food also ended his career through injury very early on and it was probably failure to look after himself in those days which, allied to the workload of a fast bowler and talismanic batsman, brought about a premature retirement from the game at 31. Now we hear that he suffered from depression.
Of course, if he really did go through the pain of mental illness, that must have been awful. Everyone has their ups and downs and going from the Ashes peaks of 2005 to the depths of 2006-7 must mess with one's brain. We're always being told that sport is played in the mind, whether through sledging or clever captaincy, but the England star never showed any such 'weakness' at the time, nor blamed it on the pedalo incident or any dip in form. Depression was hardly an unknown thing five years ago because it was en route to the airport for embarkation for that tour when teammate Marcus Trescothick finally realised that his own mental illness had destroyed his own international cricket career, even it was covered up from the media. Flintoff would have been only too aware of that. From what I have read, 'Fred' was never in that state and I do wonder why it has taken five years to tell the world. Nevertheless, it does show that sport's highs and lows can transfer to players' mental condition. If unrecognised and not addressed, things can go very wrong.
While Flintoff has turned his attentions to charity work, after-dinner speaking and fronting trashy TV shows, Jacques Kallis has continued to ply his trade. When you think about the greatest cricketers of his generation, who comes to mind? Tendulkar? Ponting? Flintoff himself? Certainly the first two have scored more runs but who has the higher batting average? It's Kallis. Not only in Tests but also in ODIs. And all that has been achieved while also taking 271 Test wickets (at an almost identical average to Flintoff) and 174 catches (more than three times the Englishman's career total in just over twice the number of Tests).
Kallis is looking more and more roly-poly these days, and his bowling has suffered. However, his ability to accumulate runs, like Tendulkar, in all formats is undimmed. Against Sri Lanka today, he was scoring at more than a run a ball until Herath arrived to stem the flow. His concentration is second to none but he can mix up the classical strokeplay with brute force as appropriate. Although having made fewer Test appearances (this is now number 150), he has made more hundreds than Ponting and reached his current total of 41 in fewer games than the Little Master.
Andrew Flintoff can look back on some great moments for England but the career path would have a zig-zag trajectory. Kallis's career, on the other hand, has been a more even journey, taking a higher plane altogether, only occasionally reached by those oh-too-brief pinnacles of Flintoff. Sportsmen are often remembered only for those career-defining moments but we should never forget the 'steady Eddies' who shine consistently brilliantly for many years. Jacques Kallis is perhaps the brightest of them all, even the greatest all-rounder of all time, and I hope he continues to dazzle for some years to come. Sri Lankan seamers, of course, may disagree.
