Jacques Kallis: A record-breaking all-rounder like no other

25,534 runs. 577 wickets. 338 catches. If stats were used to create a cricketer who was good at everything, the player might look like Jacques Kallis.

Kallis was a brilliant batsman, a penetrative fast bowler and one of the safest slip fielders the game has ever seen. In an illustrious career spanning 19 years, he breached several statistical milestones and set the benchmark high for all-rounders.

Only player to make 12,000 international runs and take 500 wickets

Of the 5000-plus players to play international cricket, only one has accumulated 12,000 or more runs and taken 500 or more wickets. That the one player – Kallis of course – has scored 13,000 runs on top of this mark highlights why he is one of the giants of the game.

He is the only player ever to achieve the double of 10,000 runs and 200 wickets in both Tests and ODIs. Excelling across formats as an all-rounder is an arduous task, but Kallis achieved it with distinction.

One of his finest all-round Test performance came in Cape Town against the West Indies in 1999. Kallis made a century in the first innings (110) and remained unbeaten on 88 off 257 balls in the second. He picked up a five-wicket haul in the last innings after taking the new ball to see South Africa through to a 149-run win.

In 2006, against India in Durban, he produced one of his greatest all-round performances in ODIs. He scored 119, facing over 50% of the balls in the innings, as South Africa made 248. He then returned to pick up 3/3 in 4.1 overs to help bowl India out for 91.

Only cricketer with more than 20 Player of the Match awards in Test cricket

In 166 Test matches, Kallis won the Player of the Match award 23 times, the most by any player in the format. In all, he was Player of the Match 57 times across formats, with 32 of those coming in ODIs, the joint-fourth-highest in the format.

One of his more memorable match award-winning performances came against Pakistan in Karachi in 2007. He recorded hundreds in each innings: he made 155 in the first in South Africa's total of 450 and remained unbeaten on 100 in the second as the Proteas declared on 264/7.

Kallis won six Player of the Match awards in ODIs in 1998 alone. But his most impactful performance came in the finals of the ICC Knockout tournament, now called the ICC Champions Trophy, in Dhaka against West Indies.

Kallis picked up 5/30 to help South Africa win their first and only ICC title. He remains the only bowler to take a five-wicket haul in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy.

In the 2012 ICC Men's T20 World Cup game against Zimbabwe in Hambantota, Kallis shone with the ball to grab his second Player of the Match award in the format. He picked up figures of 4/15 coming in as the sixth bowler in the game.

Only South African to make over 10,000 runs in Tests or ODIs

While South Africa have produced world-class batsmen in plenty, Kallis remains the only South African batsman to make over 10,000 runs in Tests or ODIs. Kallis has 11,550 runs in ODIs with 17 hundreds and 13,206 runs in Test cricket with 45 hundreds

He has two double hundreds: The first, an unbeaten 201, came against India in 2010 at Centurion. Two years later, against Sri Lanka in Cape Town, he made his highest Test score of 224.

In his final Test innings in Durban against India in 2013, Kallis hit 115 in 316 balls, his 45th Test century.

In 2004, in the final ODI of the series between South Africa and West Indies, Kallis hit 139 in a successful run-chase of 305, his highest ODI score. In the Test series preceding the ODIs, Kallis made 712 runs in four Tests, scoring a century in each of the four matches in the series.

Third-most catches in Test history

Kallis is one of only three non-wicket-keepers to take more than 200 catches in Test cricket. Rahul Dravid (210) and Mahela Jayawardene (205) have taken more catches than the South African all-rounder.

Kallis took 338 catches in international cricket; only Jayawardene (440) and Ricky Ponting (364) have taken more. In ODIs, he took 131 catches, the most by any South African player.