Kallis the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle

Johannesburg: It may have been a reflex action but the sight of Jacques Kallis going through the motions of warming up would have no doubt begged the question of whether the extra seamer would not have added to England pressure on the first day of the opening Test of the series.

There was a thought, which even Graeme Pollock was bold enough to ask why had David Terbrugge been left out and Paul Adams included in the Wanderers Test where the condition were made for the sort of bowling which was always going to favour the fast men over the first two to three days?

Kallis was the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle in the South African attack in the bullring with the theory that when Kallis works in tandem with Lance Klusener, the Natal all-rounder is a better bowler; certainly the duo would have added the pressure missing when Hansie Cronje brought himself on after the first hour had subsided and England, at the drinks break were 34 for four after 12 overs.

By that stage the time for the extra seamer to be introduced would have made the difference to knock over the England top order and in the absence of Kallis perhaps Terbrugge might have been the extra ace. It is just a theory and these can be dispatched as quickly as the next delivery.

Then of course we get the inevitable question of what would have happened had Nasser Hussain won the toss, asked South Africa to bat first and let loose his pace quartet?

It would, as Donald suggested, the batsmen ``leaving the ball well alone on the bounce'' which, apart from the delivery to dismiss Mike Atherton the majority of the England top order ignored. Not the clever thing to do at all.

What also helped South Africas cause was how much Mark Boucher has done to help ease the problem: he is catching far better than he was in England last year during that series and there is also a notable improvement since the World Cup. Whether this is a matter of Boucher growing confidence or not does not matter so much as how his work rate has added the sort of dimension which only a injury will see the selectors being forced to make a change.

There have been several catches taken this season which can be classed in the brilliant category and his keeping on the first day, the way the ball was kidding around was as perfect an example of the difference between a good, skilled professional side and the other team. Boucher so far has a haul of 95 in 22 Tests - an impressive record all right and one which deserves acknowledgement.