Hashim Amla still the rock, will always be for South Africa, says AB de Villiers
Hashim Amla’s century on Tuesday was his 20th in just 108 innings. (Source: AP)Even though five South African batsmen have hit centuries in their first four World Cup matches, Hashim Amla’s 159 on Tuesday might have been the most reassuring for fans of the Proteas looking ahead to the knockout stages.
Skipper AB de Villiers had already confirmed his spectacular form with a devastating 162 of 66 balls against West Indies last Friday but Amla, South Africa’s other top batsman, had enjoyed a modest start to the World Cup by his very high standards.
The 31-year-old opener made 11, 22 and 65 in his first three innings but a brilliant career-best knock against Ireland at Manuka Oval was confirmation that he had really hit his stride in the tournament.
“Incredible, eh? He’s still the rock, he’ll always be the rock for us,” skipper de Villiers said after the 201-run victory.
“He did it effortlessly, he plays with a lot of class. His game plans are so set, whatever you do he always seems to have an answer for it. It seems like it anyway.
“Hopefully that form can continue for the rest of the tour.”
Amla made his one-day international debut four years after his Test bow but has wasted no time since 2008 in racing up the scoring charts in the shorter form of the game.
His century on Tuesday was his 20th in just 108 innings, by some margin the fewest ever taken by a batsman to reach the milestone.
Amla’s calmness on the field is matched only by his humility off it, however, and he was not about to get carried away by such a statistic.
“Any hundred is a hundred, I’m just glad to get some runs today, it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” he said.
“I’m just glad to be getting runs up front, setting it up for the boys at the back end.”
Although South Africa took their time dismissing Ireland, consecutive innings in excess of the 400-run mark to set up victories by more than 200 runs is some form to take into their fifth Pool B match against Pakistan at Auckland on Saturday.
“The nice thing about the batting display today (Tuesday) was we did it our way, we’re not following anyone else’s strategy,” de Villiers added.
“There’s been a lot of hundreds over the last 12 to 18 months, it’s something we’re very proud of. We want to keep scoring centuries because we feel it definitely helps setting it up for later in the innings.”
