Tweet
Jacques Kallis walked off Adelaide Oval after taking two quick wickets and did not return on the first day © Getty Images
Jacques Kallis may not take further part in the Adelaide Test after leaving the field with a hamstring injury, according to South Africa's coach Gary Kirsten. Kallis trudged off the Oval after bowling 3.3 overs and was taken for a scan. While team management has not seen the results yet, Kirsten told ABC radio it was possible that Kallis may be sidelined for the remainder of the match.
Kirsten, however, was more positive after the day's play. "It is a type of injury he has never had in his career before," Kirsten said. "We don't really know what it is yet. He is a little bit sore. He made a wise decision in that as soon as he felt a twinge, he got off the park."
Before he went off, Kallis had put South Africa in a good position, having dismissed Ed Cowan and Ricky Ponting to reduce Australia to 55 for 3.
During the final session, Dale Steyn also went off the field in the middle of his 15th over, with a tight left hamstring. He was treated in the dressing room and returned to the field shortly after. He bowled again and took the wicket of Michael Hussey to end the day. Kirsten was confident Steyn's niggle will not recur. "He came back onto the field and he felt okay, so I think he is fine."
If Kallis is ruled out, South Africa will be reduced to ten men for the second time this series, after they lost JP Duminy to an Achilles injury on the first day of the Brisbane Test. South Africa's other injured player is Vernon Philander, who was ruled out of the second Test this morning and Rory Kleinveldt had to take his place. Kirsten was in the hotel lift on the way to breakfast when he got the message that Philander had woken up with a bad back.
"He got out of bed this morning and he couldn't bend. That probably hasn't happened to many of us. It only happened to me once," Kirsten said. "You feel a lock, a spasm and usually it doesn't last long. We hoped it would ease in the time that we woke up to when we had to go to the ground but it didn't."
Philander was taken for a scan with Kallis and his results are also pending. With a week to go before the third Test starts in Perth, Kirsten is hopeful Philander will recover in time.