RESPECT IS KEY – AMLA
JUST PLAY THE GAME: According to Proteas No 3 batsman Hashim Amla there should be no comparison between a game of cricket and war. HASHIM Amla, veered off course a touch as he tried to explain what kind of atmosphere he felt the fourth Test starting at the Wanderers tomorrow, would be played in.
Answering a question regarding added expectation about a Proteas win, given the Australian team is now without its two best batsmen, Amla reflected on how he likes to play the game while at the same time hinting at how the previous three Tests had unfolded, with lots of acrimony between the two sets of players.
“I have always thought that cricket is a gentleman’s game. The late Hylton Ackerman was a fond coach of mine at Under-19 level, and he used to say: ‘There’s no need for anyone to chirp, because you have to earn the right to chirp or sledge. And if you earn the right to chirp then you don’t even feel the need to do it because you’ve already achieved a certain level of skill.’
That was the school that I came from,” said Amla.
There’s been little ‘gentlemanly’ about this series, with each match concluding with players being called into the match referee’s room to answer for some or other breach of the ICC’s Code of Conduct.
The Australians have now lost their captain, vice-captain and young opening batsman and there is a sense that South Africa’s target of winning a Test series against Australia on home soil for the first time in 48 years has been made easier.
“Not having their two best players puts them in a predicament, but who is to say that the two guys coming in won’t perform better? You can never take your eye off the ball. Everybody is wanting to excel and you have to respect everybody. International cricket is about affording your opponents respect,” said Amla.
Will that make for a ‘quieter’ match at the Wanderers? Amla couldn’t say, but in his engagement with the travelling media yesterday, Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann said the last few days had given him plenty of food for thought. “There is a need for us to change the way we play,” said Lehmann
“They have their issues to deal with,” Amla said about the Australians. “It’s only the way that we play our cricket that’s important to us. When we play other opposition you can feel the toughness on the field and off the field you appreciate that it was a good battle. But it’s not war. It’s ridiculous to think that playing cricket is like war because if you know the realities of war, you can’t equate the two. Yes it’s a tough battle of skill, but you’ve got to have respect for each other.”
Naturally it’s been a dreadful few days for the Australians, and they cancelled yesterday’s training session as they dealt with the fallout from bans handed out to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
They will field a new opening combination tomorrow, with Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns who checked into the team’s hotel yesterday, expected to face the new ball. Whether Glenn Maxwell, the third player called up, gets a start seems unlikely.
There will be a clearer picture of the mood in the Australian camp when the team trains at the Wanderers today. Asked if the sledging would quieten down, Amla said: “I can’t tell you what the Australians are going to do, I can tell you what we are going to do, which is play the game as competitively as possible, but with an element of respect.”