I do agree that Imran is "clearly" better, But I think saying that it isn't close is a different thing altogether. Imran is a top 8 bowler imo, while Kallis is top 16; and they're comparable in their secondary discipline.
Nobody is debating that fast bowling is more intense. This has no bearing on either the massive gap between their batting, or the fact that Kallis actually bowled more than Imran.
OFC longevity matters on for discussing workload. How many overs would Imran have bowled per game if he'd played 166?
Yes but not per match. Imran's load is more. And we can't compare batter career with fast bowler career. Agreed?
Massive disagree here. A captain has to keep changing fields, in Imran's case scold fielders who are dawdling, think of tactics on the fly, and then off field has to deal with man management issues, deal with the media, etc. Much more load than slips.
Yeah I mean I can definitely imagine it being mentally challenging: but not more than being captain!
Idts in tests tbh, it will probably be the outfield. In the slips you need to be mentally active each ball, and you need to get in a crouched position and bend your back each ball.
Batting + bowling, per match Imran probably a bit ahead on workload. Career, Kallis had a massively higher workload. Agreed?
I don't really want to hear about "slip fielding workload". There's a reason a lot of chubsters with low mobility were put there by teams. If standing there all day is actually physically wearing you out then you don't even deserve to play the sport.
I mean doesn't every fielder have to be alert each ball? You aren't really moving much in the slips.
Thinking Inzi here.
Ok but Kallis only had a longer career as such because of being a batter and it's not right to compare bats and fast bowler career samples.
Yeah but the focus levels are extremely high in the slips because your reaction times need to be faster. You can certainly chill out a lot more at fine leg or third man.
It's really not.
Kallis was a fast bowler who bowled more than Imran. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make in your first paragraph. It's hard to make a direct comparison except over career (if that's what you mean) due to the different roles, especially with Kallis cutting back on the bowling to enable many more games being played. But career workload is not even vaguely comparable. When you bowl more and bat 5* more, it's like adding an extra average career of workload on top.
Yeah the slips don't go fully down as the keeper does and since it's a very long day, most guys, when they know nothings happening with the ball, don't go down much at all. So probably a bit less, but much closer to the keeper than anyone else.
They also get more injuries to the aforementioned back and fingers.
If you regularly keep your bowling below a certain threshold yeah you can sustain it with a longer batting career and with a higher output. It's not nearly as impressive as sustaining a higher bowling load as a pure Frontline pace bowler while batter and captain even for a shorter period though.