One of The Sportsman's favourite sports people in the entire world is without a doubt Hashim Amla. We all know he is an amazing talent with bat in hand, but what have impressed me the most over the years is his soft-spoken nature and the manner in which he carries himself on and off the field. A more humble sportsman I have not come across in a very long time. What a perfect example he is to our youngsters...!
Amla became the fastest ODI batsmen to reach 4000 runs when he scored his 59th run yesterday against India in the second ODI at Kingsmead, Durban. He beat Viv Richards by seven innings in doing so and in true Amla style, he felt "embarrassed" when finding out that he got one over the great Sir Viv Richards.
The Proteas convincingly beat India for the second time in four days to clinch the three match ODI series in emphatic style. India once again had no answer to South Africa's batsmen, especially openers Quinton de Kock (106) and Hashim Amla (100) again showed their dominance with bat in hand. India's bowlers struggled as they did in the opening game at the Bullring in Johannesburg.
The same can be said of the SA bowlers who dominated from ball one almost. It was clear that the Indian batsmen have not adjusted to local conditions yet, but all credit has to go to the Proteas who displayed impressive form and this can only help them immensely going into the two five day tests that are scheduled for this shortened tour by India.
Dale Steyn (3 for 17) and Tsotsobe (4 for 25) were the outstanding Proteas bowlers, but Morkel (2 for 34) also made life for the Indian batsmen uncomfortable.
South Africa's national cricket team, the Proteas managed to beat India by a massive 141 runs after they sent a very strong message to the visitors with a confident batting display after losing the toss of the first ODI at the Wanderers, and was asked to bat first on a typical greenish-looking "Bullring" pitch. Man of the Match Quinton De Kock (135), Hashim Amla ( 65), AB de Villiers (77 ), and JP Duminy (59* ) cashed in on the run-feast.
With the ball, Steyn (3/15) and McClaren (3/49) were the main destroyers.
Firstly, congratulations to Pakistan for winning an ODI series in South Africa for the first time - you deserve it, especially after producing the more consistent cricket during the first and second ODI's at Newlands and St George's Park respectively.
The South Africans gave it their best shot today in Port Elizabeth, chasing a formidable total in a rain-reduced match, but unfortunately they came up short by 1 run. Yes, only one run made the difference between losing an ODI series and tying it. However, the Proteas, led by AB de Villiers had numerous chances to wrap up today's game and failed in the end.
From a bowling perspective, only Dale Steyn with 6 wickets for 39 runs, in 9 overs made the Pakistan batsmen work hard for their runs. Imran Tahir bowled well too, especially on a pitch that did not help the spinners much. The rest of the bowlers could not stick to a consistent length and the Pakistan batsmen made them pay.
The South African innings started off very slowly, with the Pakistan opening bowlers bowling a very disciplined line and length. Smith was out early for only 1, which is just perhaps an indication that his days as an ODI batsmen is over. Amla, as usual, steadied the ship and young Quinton de Kock made a very good, entertaining contribution of 47 runs off 52 balls.
South Africa was chasing hard all game long until around the 38th over, when they required only about a run a ball to win, with plenty of wickets in the bag. Skipper De Villiers was firing away and Amla was set for another ODI century. In my view the Proteas threw it away with AB, Amla, and Duminy losing their wickets through unnecessary attacking shots, which was not needed at that stage.
Especially Amla, although scoring 98, should have seen the innings through to the end and made sure South Africa won this one. Again, cricket remains a very unpredictable game and that is why The Sports-Man loves it ...!
Batsman
Status
Runs
Balls
4s
6s
SR
Hashim Amla
c Mohammad Hafeez b Saeed Ajmal
98
131
7
0
74.81
Graeme Smith
c Umar Akmal b Junaid Khan
1
7
0
0
14.29
Quinton de Kock (W)
c Misbah-ul-Haq b Shahid Afridi
47
52
3
1
90.38
Jacques Kallis
c Saeed Ajmal b Shahid Afridi
6
12
0
0
50.00
AB de Villiers (C)
c Shahid Afridi b Junaid Khan
74
45
8
2
164.44
JP Duminy
c Anwar Ali b Junaid Khan
15
18
1
0
83.33
David Miller
not out
2
4
0
0
50.00
Ryan McLaren
not out
0
1
0
0
0.00
Dale Steyn
Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Imran Tahir
Extras: 18 (b - 1, w - 5, no - 12, lb - 0, penalty - 0)
Fall of Wickets
1/9 (Graeme Smith 4.3ov.) 2/96 (Quinton de Kock 21.4ov.) 3/117 (Jacques Kallis 25.4ov.) 4/227 (AB de Villiers 38.4ov.) 5/254 (Hashim Amla 44ov.) 6/255 (JP Duminy 44.2ov.)
Pakistan managed to post an above-average score batting first at St George's Park during the rain-reduced second ODI in Port Elizabeth. The average score for teams batting first at this venue is around 233 only, and that is for a full 50 over ODI. Today's game has been reduced to 45 overs and the Proteas have to bat much better than they did over the past weekend to pull the ODI series back to 1-1.
The Proteas' bowlers, apart from Dale Steyn (he took 6 wickets!) and Imran Tahir, did not bowl the right lengths at times, but can the batsmen deliver a perfect batting display? Somebody like Smith, Amla, Kallis, De Kock, or De Villiers has to score a big fifty or even a century to ensure victory for South Africa. David Miller and Duminy are under pressure to deliver with the bat as well ... We may have a great game to look forward to ...!
Pakistan Score Card
Batsman
Status
Runs
Balls
4s
6s
SR
Nasir Jamshed
b Dale Steyn
2
5
0
0
40.00
Ahmed Shehzad
run out (Imran Tahir)
102
112
8
2
91.07
Mohammad Hafeez
c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn
8
16
0
0
50.00
Sohaib Maqsood
c Hashim Amla b Ryan McLaren
42
59
3
0
71.19
Misbah-ul-Haq (C)
c Quinton de Kock b Imran Tahir
12
15
1
0
80.00
Umar Akmal (W)
c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn
42
30
4
2
140.00
Shahid Afridi
c AB de Villiers b Dale Steyn
11
13
1
0
84.62
Bilawal Bhatti
c Quinton de Kock b Dale Steyn
21
14
4
0
150.00
Anwar Ali
obstructing the field
7
4
1
0
175.00
Saeed Ajmal
c Jacques Kallis b Dale Steyn
0
1
0
0
0.00
Junaid Khan
not out
1
1
0
0
100.00
Extras: 14 (b - 0, w - 13, no - 1, lb - 0, penalty - 0)
