10 all-rounders who played for a long time

It requires tremendous amounts of fitness, and a consistent grip over your game to play international cricket for a long time. While fast bowlers break down easily, and have relatively smaller careers due to the physical stress involved, batsmen are generally able to stretch their career longer, often by giving up one form of the game.

All-rounders are one of the most fascinating species in cricket; they fit easily into the team, do double the work, and lend lots of balance to the side. Here's a look at ten remarkable all-rounders of the game, who played at the top-most level for a long time, and tasted enough success to become legends of the game:

1. Jacques Kallis

The Rock of Gibraltar from South Africa was the fundament of the Proteas' batting lineup for close to two decades. With a rock-solid technique, coupled with a fluent range of shots, Kallis could adapt his batting to any condition and form of the game.

Apart from his assured and dependable batting, he was known for his more-than-useful medium pace, which might have had lost speed as his career progressed but he was a quality-partnership breaker and ideal fifth-bowler material.

Add to that his prowess as a slip catcher, and Kallis was a complete player. He ended his eighteen-year career as the third highest run-getter in Tests, and 565 international wickets.