Herschelle Gibbs took the plaudits - and the Man of the Match award - for his 104, but Jacques Kallis's 61 not out, at a time when South Africa were losing the plot, was just as crucial to their victory. Kallis was at the crease as South Africa lost three wickets for 16 runs, but while Ashwell Prince was like a cat on a hot tin roof at the other end, Kallis was serenity personified, despite an Australian cordon that has rarely been more vocal.

As our graph shows, Kallis was in control of 87% of his shots (98 out of 113), and the figure is even better against the quicker bowlers. Mark Waugh and Shane Warne may have given South Africa the jitters, but the crucial passage of play was always going to be when the second new ball was taken. Against Australia's three seamers, Kallis was in control of a hugely impressive 91% of his strokes (60 out of 66). For Gibbs against the quicks, that figure was 84%.

Kallis making runs in the second innings was an apt way to end his winter. In 10 Tests against Zimbabwe, India and Australia, Kallis has averaged a mighty 123 in the second innings, as against 66 in the first. Overall, 1019 runs at an average of 84.91 is good work by anybody's standards, even if that does include some cheap runs against Zimbabwe.

Kallis's batting just about held up against the Aussies. In the six Tests he averaged 42.90, as against a career average of 47.86 before the series. This is some compensation for his bowling, which went to pieces: before South Africa flew to Australia, Kallis averaged 28.22, with an economy rate of 2.45 runs per over. In the six Tests he took 15 wickets at 42.60, and was thumped for 4.04 runs per over.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

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