By now the media is in overdrive recounting the highlights of his career. I am not trying to repeat that, but concentrating on a few of his more outstanding (or more peculiar) performances.
For an overview the most logical place to go is:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/southafrica/content/player/44936.html
He has a very respectable Test batting average above 50 along with 22 centuries.
The highlight of his Test career was probably not his 278* but what is arguably the best all-round performance by a Test wicket-keeper:
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284278.html
It can be seen that he is the only wicket-keeper to score a century and to make 10 dismissals in an innings. This is made more clear here:
In fact, he shares the record for most dismissals in a Test with Jack Russell:
Note WP Saha in this table. Also that 3 of the 5 instances were in South Africa and that the two best performances were at Johannesburg.
His best in an innings is 6, while the record is 7 shared by Wasim Bari, Bob Taylor, IDS Smith and RD Jacobs.
However, he also had some low lights in Tests-being one of the few to get a “queen pair” – out second ball in each inning. And he is also one of the few to get a pair as a captain. He and tailender BS Bedi are the only captains to get a queen pair.
However, it is in the realm of strike rates in ODI matches that he is in a class by himself. That will be the next post.
abn397 