Tuesday, 21st August 2007 at 5:19 pm

Where to for Jacques Kallis?

Until the announcement of South Africa’s Twenty20 World Cup squad a couple of weeks ago, the though of Jacques Kallis not being in the national set-up for, oh, the next 150 years, was completely unthinkable. Now he’s not even in the one-day squad, is weighing up his options, and with a lucrative new rebel league in India starting up, as well as cash-rich counties looking for star players, there’s a very real possibility that Kallis won’t be part of the South African cricket landscape any more.

Kallis, understandably, was furious at being left out of the World Cup, a selectorial faux pas that was poorly written off afterwards as being a move to rest the big all-rounder. Kallis resigned the vice-captaincy as a result, hurt by an unexpected (and quite frankly ludicrous) decision; with the trip to Zimbabwe also not offered to him (a blessing in practice, given the appeal of a week north of the border at present, but a further insult in principle), Kallis is weighing up his multiple options.

He could stay on with South Africa, certainly, and that’s the option we’d all love him to take, but the money that the rebel Indian league is throwing at big name players suggests Kallis could secure an enormous payday if he heads for the sub-continent. Add that to a contract with a county (and Feverpitcher can think of 18 who’d want him), and it’s a desire to play for South Africa that is keeping Kallis here. And given the way he’s been treated in the last few weeks, Feverpitcher can’t blame him from looking at his alternative options - much as we hope he’ll opt to stay with us a little longer.