And now his fellow senior pro, Mark Boucher, stands to lose a healthy amount of his own hard-earned for speaking out in favour of his colleague. "He's the best allrounder we've ever had and he's saved more games than anyone realises," Boucher said. "He is a far better one-day player than he is given credit for. It is either those who have an issue with him, and have a chip on their shoulders, or those who have ulterior motives." These comments landed Boucher in a disciplinary hearing, for which the finding is expected soon.

Boucher will argue that CSA came down disproportionately hard on him and many observers believe it is no coincidence that the conflict has coincided with the rise of Norman Arendse to the presidency. Arendse has been involved in many fiery disputes and his lack of sympathy for players was clear when he represented Zimbabwe Cricket with rottweiler-like aggression in their dealings with their own disenchanted players.

Boucher may yet win his case, but he and his team-mates have been shown in no uncertain terms that they work for a new boss who is poles apart from the man he replaced, the genial Ray Mali.

It is Kallis, however, who remains at the centre of this debate. While his record is immense, enough to rank him alongside Graeme Pollock and Barry Richards as the greatest of South African batsmen, there are still mutterings that he does not dominate bowling attacks enough. In particular, his failure to collar the Australians in the World Cup has been held against him. Kallis reacted to criticism over his slow scoring in the showpiece tournament in the Caribbean by getting out to uncharacteristic slogs in the crucial loss to New Zealand and the semi-final defeat to Australia.

South Africa's Twenty20 squad was actually chosen nearly a month ago, on the morning of the tournament launch in Johannesburg. So CSA and the selectors had at least two weeks in which to talk to Kallis and discuss the reasons for leaving him out.

Unsurprisingly, the player himself has not bought convenor Joubert Strydom's comments that Kallis has been "rested". Four one-day internationals in Ireland have been the only cricket he has played since the World Cup.

So how much consultation was there with the vice-captain before the shock announcement? None, it would seem. So much for a new era in which the players are supposedly considered shareholders in South African cricket. At the very least, CSA's man-management has been shocking.

It didn't take long for Kallis to figure out that the main reason for his omission was his batting style. Practically from the start of his international career, he has been told to stay in and be the rock around which an often fragile South African top order can bat, so his anger when this was used against him is understandable, even if his response was petulant.

The South African team certainly cannot afford to have Kallis selling his considerable wares to a salivating international market and, if the selectors had been thinking a bit more laterally, they may have spotted that the Twenty20 World Championship provides the ideal opportunity for their star batsman to shake off the shackles that he believes have been imposed on him by the last five national coaches.

Do Cricket South Africa want to get even more out of their champion run-scorer or do Arendse and Co want to punish him for that semi-final defeat to Australia? Either way, it has been the stickiest of starts to the new season in South Africa, after it all looked so promising a month ago.

Leaving out a player of such all-round ability as Kallis is pure madness - I think South Africa would be the only country to do something like this (remember Lance Klusener?). Kallis would walk into any international 20/20 team including Australia's

The whole world is outraged at the ommission of Jaques Kallis - who is Arendse to deny cricket lovers everywhere the pleasure of watching the only bankable player in the SA team. South African sports administration has never bathed itself in glory, however, the emergence of a Mugabesque dictatorship must surely represent its nadir. What a way to promote the game in SA. When will the game we love so much recover its mojo.

SA cricket still have a long way to learn that our players should be treated well for maximum output from them. Players like Andy Hall and Boeta Dippenaar are yo-yo players. We've already lost Nicky Boje, Jacques Rudolph and McLaren (Kolpak agreement) and now we might loose Jakes as well. I don't know if they had discussed it thoroughly with him, which is doubtful, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted this way. It would be a shame to CRIC-SA if we lost the services of one of the best batsmen in the world. Ask any bowler in the world who he'd rather not bowl to. It's right, none other than Jacques Kallis. And that's because of his solid technique, ask Mohammed Asif. He's the leading six-hitter in the current Proteas squad. I couldn't believe it myself when I saw his record. Do you think he'll be happy then playing later in the tests and ODIs? I don't think so. He's a world-class player. Jakes we will miss you, those of us who know what real cricket is all about. Hard luck Jakes. They probably forgot how many times you've saved us from shame as a cricketing nation. And as for Biff (Graeme) I put on all the pressure on you to perform. Without Kallis I wonder. Who are your slip fieldsmen? I thought Pro20 favoured All-rounders, and ironically you leave out your best all-rounder!

The idea of punishing Kallis for the WC failure? Do I remember correctly that Shaun Pollock was made the scapegoat 4 years previously? It does sound familiar. There is no way that Kallis is inferior in shot-making than Gibbs of de Villiers or Bosman or Smith. Ask the Zimbabweans - and he bowls better than the above as well!

Dropping a guy like Jacques Kallis or Lance Klusener for that matter is just plain thick. If they don't want him batting (and I have to wonder why anyone wouldn't want him batting for them) he has been known to bowl a bit. Numpties in charge is the only possible cause I can come to...muppets.

I think Kallis is a great player, but I must confess that I was beginning to wonder if his scoring rate was up to the modern standards of one day cricket. I also believe that part of South Africas lack of outstanding success in the one day form is from not picking enough specialist players and taking the selection policy most countries had 15 years ago. However, South Africa are taking the 20/20 too seriously and this should be the ideal opportunity to give Kallis the chance to run his own race. He has more then earned that right.

A totally incomprehensible decision in cricketing terms. And treating experienced international cricketers like children when they voice their opinions doesn't show any signs of intelligence from a management point of view. I can only fear for the future of South African cricket if, as it seems, this is indicative that its new president learnt his trade from Zimbabwe cricket management.

Although Kallis remains as one of my favorite players, I do see why he gets dropped from Twenty20 squad. he never was the quicker scorer of the team and Twenty20 is a game for quick scorers. As a bowler, he is just a shadow of what he used to be. I do believe he is still a key player in 50 over matches, as SA team (my favorite) is just going down hill and they need a rock. But for 20 over matches i am afraid he became obsolite.

Thanks to Daniel Moody to mention Zulu. My another favorite. It is a shame what CSA did to him.

Kapil Dev must be rushing to the airport for a ticket to South Africa to recruit Kallis for his ICL tournament, and if not he's missing a trick. That is exactly what CSA deserve, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Bouch follow suit.

Kallis is a great batsman and time will tell that he is SA'S greatest batsman and allrounder, but, the time has come to insert new blood in the SA team and perhaps expose new players to the mental side of international cricket. If guys like Kallis are always occupying the prime batting spots at every tournament, how do the likes of Bodi, Duminy,Bosman, Alviro Petersen get a chance to expereince what is playing with the best. We do not want a situation where like India our top order and middle order is clogged with over 32's and youngsters find it hard to get in. Even India have left Tendulkar, Ganguly and Dravid (captain of both one day and test team) out to introduce cavalier youngsters.

Should Kallis need the money, pay him. A good question is how Justin Kemp kept his place.

In all, this is a storm in a tea cup. Kallis should grow up, no one gave Steve Waugh any warning when he would be dropped form the one day team or Mark Waugh or Mark Taylor. Kallis must win us more test matches (we have a terrible ranking) and perhaps a world cup. Forget about this mickey mouse tournament and come to venues as a VIP guest.

Can anyone tell me who has the fastest 50 in test cricket history? Faster than Afridi, faster than Botham or Viv Richards? Faster than all the greats in over 150 years of test cricket?
You guessed it! Jacques Kallis!
Some will say this was only against Zimbabwe but if thats the case, players of international standard would do similar when playing provincial or club cricket week in and week out!
Kallis simply hasnt been allowed to play this fluid hard hitting innings he is obviously capable of due to his 'job discription' within the national one-day setup!
I am sure the man himself would have said as much if the board had had the decency to speak to him first.
The fans will be poorer for his exclusion.

I'm not sure how news of his omission reached him, but if Kallis found out via the media, that shows poor communication skills by CSA.

I agree with the omission to a certain extent since I think that Kallis is an excellent test player where he really comes into his own. ODI just about allow him to do the same, but 20-20 does not make allowance for his style of play.

There are players who are better suited to 20-20, but don't hold a candle to him when it comes to the longer version of the game.

Kallis is a slow 50/50 batsman and would be a joke in 20/20 cricket. But since 20/20 is itself a joke (NSW infamous fielded a RUGBY LEAGUE player in the domestic competition last year) why not give him the chance to play some hit-and-giggle? It must surely have made him a better 50/50 cricketer.

My guess is CSA have decided he's too old for CWC2011 and therefore have dropped him from their 50/50 plans as well.

Kallis has proved time and again that he is a capable Test batsman, but even at that level he has been criticised for a lack of dominance and an inability to accelerate his scoring rate. As we all know he is fine against the medium to poor sides; however he gets tied sown by the likes of Australia and Sri Lanka. If he battles to accelerate in to 50 over format, how much more critical would this be in the 20 over format? I believe that the selectors should have been honest and should have said that he has been dropped because the format is not suited to his style of play. The player I feel most for is Andrew Hall who has shown tenacity time and again for South Africa with both bat and ball.

Kallis is indeed RSA's best batsman, he has been asked for many years now to anchor the innings for us in test and 50 over games, this was his opportunity to shine and show everyone what he can do when he is not asked to anchor, he has a lot of variation in his bowling as well and could do the job with bat and ball, he will be missed. Are you telling me that Bodi is going to do the job??? Well done for his 50 yesterday but that was slower than even Kallis is on his worst day.

If there's anyone that I would like to bat if my life depended on it, it would be Kallis an no-one else. You cannot just pick 11 people for a 20 over match and ask them to hit the ball as far as possible. If the top 3 fail and the team are 15 for 3 after 3 overs you need a guy like Kallis to at least make sure you get to 120.
I don't understand all the people out there complaining about his scoring rate. Like ken said, his job is to be the backbone of the innings and there is no-one better at it than him. All the people are now on his case. Either he bat too slow like the first match against Aus or he throws away his wicket as in the semifinal. I would rather have him score 75 of 100 balls every match than 25 of 15 balls.

As far as 20/20 cricket goes, he has shown in the past that he can score at more than a run a ball and with no restrictions in 20/20 would have shown the world what he could do. Unfortunatly Mr Arendse decided to rob us from seeing the best batsmen in the world in action.
I'm not even going to go into the reason for him being dropped was to rest. Anyone who believe that has got the IQ of a pencil.

go ask any bowler who would they least like to bowl to in the sa squad i can tell all the good ones will tell you kallis. kallis is not stupid obviously he would play more attacking ( ask taibu and co) for the 20/20 and he is and exceptional bowler and yes he could easily stroll into any side even australia .

with so much of our cricket board pretending to be in charge of there association, there only purpose is to distroy the wonderful game call cricket. Jacques Kallis is the best allround sout african cricketer i have seen played this wonderfull game, And to drop him from the team without even meeting with him is a insult to one of the greatest allrounder in this decade, to game of cricket and to all the spectator who will be going to watch the twenty/20 world cup.I am sorry for jacques kallis but i am more sorry for south africa cricket

If the SA administration do 'want to punish him for that semi-final defeat to Australia', then that is crazy. Sure, Kallis helped Australia a lot in that game, but so did the rest of the SA team, starting with the captain Smith. Smith started the rot with a ridiculously irresponsible dismissal, and he's supposed to be setting the example. Also, if SA started dropping important players every time they lost a big game to Australia, then they wouldn't have a whole lot of players left to choose from.

It doesn't seem such a bad decision though. Kallis is obviously at his best in the test arena, his game isn't really suited to one dayers, so I would think he's even less suited to 20/20. It depends on who takes his place though, no point dropping him if there's no one better to take his place.

no jacques kallis is a no 1 allrounder in the world..i dont think he should be excluded from the 20-20 game no wonder..infact these days he is trying to hit at an avg 80% sr rate..

Drop Herschelle Gibbs and bring in Vaughn van Jaarsveld. Drop Morne Morkel and bring in Andrew Hall.

South African MUGS,I wish Kallis was English!!

It is totally ridiculous for Mark Boucher to be fined for implying that the SA squad is not the best that could be selected because quite obviously its not. Andrew Hall is South Africa's most experienced 20/20 player and has the best record but Albie Morkel made the squad!!!Look at Morkel's 20/20 record and what Zimbabwe did to his bowling yesterday.Kallis should be in instead of Bodi (who averages less than 24 in 20/20 cricket) and Nel (who has economy rate of less than 6 in 20/20's) should be in ahead of Morne Morkel.

Jacques Kallis I would think deserves a run at the T20, with an average strike rate around 115% and average 17 runs he derserves to make the South African team. There are really only a few batsman in South Africa that have mastered 20/20 cricket and Smith comes to mind with a strike rate 137 and average 86 runs. Australias top batsman all have between 160 - 200 strike rate and this is what you need to win 20/20, If a team cannot achieve 10 plus run rate they are not going to win. You also need about 5 really good batsman so that when a few fail someone is going to fire.It is early days for 20/20 and I am sure Kallis can adapt himself, he is a fine batsman and to leave him out is a great shame.
Greg Ettridge
Gold Coast Australia

Kallis's ommission is an insult to the player. The excuse that he is being rested when he has played very little since the World Cup is an insult to the fans and the competition. If the 20/20 World Cup does not warrant the inclusion of one of the World's best all rounders why bother with the event.
A country that is not treating the event seriously should never have been allowed to host it in the first place. Maybe Jakes will now join the mass emigration to England.
Barry Goodman
Radlett, England

I understand that CSA is a business and that Norman is doing what he thinks is best for SA cricket, but Kallis is an extraordinary player, I think for his 10 years of playing, he deserves at least a call before the announcement was made to explain, that they did not feel he could really contribute to 20/20. I too feel emotional about it, but lets remember that administrators like Norman do not take emotional decisions, they take business ones maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.

It would appear that the cricketing authorities are quick to make decisions about a so-called out of form 20/20 player - but they are rather pathetic in making a correct moral decisions to undertake a tour in an "abnormal society." They are quick to see the faults in a great player like Jacques, but are totally blind to the dictatorship. But then, I suppose, they are only playing a game of 'follow my leadership'.

Kallis & co are the stars that we the spectators choose to watch. If a sports body is so political that it forgets its role as a simple mediator for getting the best players onto the field to represent South Africa, then all is lost. Politics and sport do not mix well, but it seems in Africa,politics is the only thing you can count on. Kallis has the ability to hit the ball better than anyone of the chaps they would replace him with. Style be damned, his ability to adapt and play is evident and should be the only considerations.