C365 Player of the Week – Hashim Amla

Cricket365
August 14, 2012

It seems rather obvious to nominate Hashim Amla for the coveted title. All and sundry are doing the same. But we really cannot do otherwise, can we?

It seems rather obvious to nominate Hashim Amla for our coveted Player of the Week title. All and sundry are doing the same. But we really cannot do otherwise, can we? His performance in helping South Africa completely destroy England in the first Test at The Oval will live long in the memory.

So we crown you, Hashim Mahomed Amla, as our main man of the past seven days. Tens of thousands of words have been typed about the 29-year-old since his 311 not out, all glowingly positive. His highlights: First South African to reach 300, part of two massive double-century stands, frustrated the living daylights out of England's bowlers, has an awesome beard, batted for 790 minutes, etc, etc, etc.

The thing about Hash, aside from his glorious cover drives and wristy shots off his pads, is that he's so humble. It makes a really nice change to see a guy who entered the record books on numerous fronts over 24 hours be at a loss for words when facing the press. 'Thanks very much, it was all for the team, records are not important,' is essentially what he said, and he meant it.

There's nothing brash or cocky about him, nothing 'typically' South African like KP or Graeme Smith (honourable mention for his gritty 131), and that's why he was voted SA's pPayer of the Year in 2010, and the fans' favourite cricketer. It's impossible not to like him, and even if he'd scored a lot less runs, like 211 say, we'd still have given him the gong.

We should also give a few extra words to <b>Dale Steyn</b>, whose five-for in England's second innings secured the innings and 12-run win. Amla's knock (alongside Jacques Kallis' 182 not out) gave the cushion for Steyn to bowl at, but he made to sure to pummel England with that cushion.

People tend to compare Steyn with England swing bowler James Anderson. Let's be honest, if you had to choose one, and only one, for your team, it's pretty obvious who would get picked. Hint: Not Jimmy.

<b>Lindsay du Plessis</b>