Hashim Amla: We gave Test cricket lovers something to watch

It took the brilliance of AB de Villiers to eventually transport the Proteas into a first-innings lead on the second day of the second Test against Australia at St George’s Park on Saturday, but the tracks were surely laid down by Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar in their tenacious third-wicket stand of 88.

Amla (56) and opening batsman Elgar (57) dug in for 204 minutes, facing 278 balls as they withstood everything the powerful Australian attack could throw at them, on a sporty pitch that allowed for nip, turn and, most tellingly, reverse-swing.

Brought together 45 minutes into the second day after Kagiso Rabada’s sterling job as nightwatchman was ended on 29, Elgar and Amla had taken South Africa to 153 for two at tea, weathering a tremendous onslaught from the Australian bowlers after lunch.

The importance of their partnership was shown as soon as one of them was dismissed, Mitchell Starc’s fourth ball after tea being a sensational late-swinging yorker that sent Amla’s off-stump cartwheeling, with South Africa’s first innings threatening to be derailed as four wickets tumbled for 28 runs.

But De Villiers then took over, stroking a masterful (given the difficulty every other batsman had faced) 74 not out off 81 balls. He added 44 off just 47 deliveries for the seventh wicket with Quinton de Kock, who scored just nine, and then took the Proteas to 263 for seven – a lead of 20 – at stumps with some staunch support from Vernon Philander (14*).

“The ball started reverse-swinging quite a lot, which made it all the more difficult, and you have to give credit to Australia for bowling very well. We had to grind our way through and hope the release comes, and then AB came in and gave us some momentum. He and Vern looked very good,” Amla said of a gripping second day’s play.

“It was a tough day today, but lovers of Test match cricket will have really appreciated the skill shown by the bowlers and the batsmen too. It was a good, hard day. The reverse-swing was the most difficult thing to handle, but there was a bit of nip as well.”

Reverse-swing somehow fuels the imagination as an exotic skill but, according to Amla, it is now becoming common-place in Test cricket and there were times when it seemed Australia were totally disinterested in conventional swing and couldn’t wait for the ball to lose its shine so they could start working on reverse. They took the second new ball belatedly, after 89.3 overs, just five-and-a-half overs before stumps.

“You have to play as straight as possible when it starts reversing and just accept that conditions are now in favour of the bowlers. You need to be as tight as you can and there weren’t many bad balls out there. Reverse-swing is part-and-parcel of the game now, but you still have to land the ball in the right area.

“Australia did that pretty well and that’s the skill – landing the ball consistently in the right place. A lot also depends on the pitch and the amount of abrasiveness there is to scuff up the ball. As the team probably batting last, we don’t want the pitch to deteriorate too much and any lead for us is good,” Amla explained.

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