Teammates sing the praises of ‘Mr Cool’
Amla set to join elite SA test 100 club at the Wanderers
ON the eve of his 100th test against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers tomorrow‚ Proteas batting talisman Hashim Amla was hailed by teammates Stephen Cook and Wayne Parnell as an undoubted stalwart of the South African game.
When he walks on to the hallowed Bullring turf for the third and final test – where South Africa could complete a 3-0 whitewash over the Sri Lankans – Amla will become only the eighth South African to feature in a century of test matches.
The elegant Amla will join an exclusive group that features other South African cricketing greats such as Jacques Kallis‚ Mark Boucher‚ Graeme Smith‚ Shaun Pollock‚ Makhaya Ntini‚ Gary Kirsten and AB de Villiers in the hundred club.
Cook‚ who will be playing in front of his home crowd and has known Amla since their school days‚ described the 33-year-old Amla as a fantastic person and one of the best batsman that South Africa has produced.
“I grew up playing school cricket against him while he was at Durban High School and I was playing for KES‚” Cook said yesterday.
“I have always known him as a great player and fantastic person and you just have to look at his statistics.
“I have been fortunate to share various dressing rooms with him from the time he was my captain at U19 level to now where we are playing test cricket together 15 years later.”
Parnell said they wanted to win the test match and whitewash the Sri Lankans for the sake of Amla, who had been the foundation for many successes on the pitch since 2004.
“Like Stephen [Cook] said‚ his record speaks for itself‚” Parnell said.
“The man has scored almost 8 000 test runs at an average of almost 50, which is remarkable.
“He has been one of the pillars of this team for long periods of time and it will be nice of us to give him a victory that will ensure a whitewash on this special occasion.
“We haven’t had a whitewash in a while and it will be nice to do it for him.”
Parnell said that throughout his international career Amla had always been someone who he turned to for advice when things got tough.
“He has been like a brother to me on tour and an awesome team man, and I wish him well on Thursday.”
Cook said Amla was a calming influence in the team and someone with a good feel of the game and who knew how to share his tactical knowledge with those around him.
“On my debut I batted with him for long periods of time and he was so welcoming and helpful‚” Cook said.
“He is a voice of calm when situations get tricky; he is there when people need to be grounded a little bit.
“He is a voice of reason and he brings a lot of confidence to the group.
“I spoke about him in Australia‚ even though he did not get enough runs‚ because the impact he had on the guys to perform was immense.
“His experience on the wickets there and how to deal with the Australians during the off-field difficulties that we encountered there was a big help to us.
“He plays a vital role in the side whether he scores naught or a hundred.
“He is one of those guys who starts on 30 because he is worth 30 runs for his experience,” Cook said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga has been ruled out of the Twenty20 and one-day series against South Africa as he has yet to fully recover from a bout of dengue fever, officials said yesterday.
The 33-year-old was expected to make a comeback after a litany of injuries but will now have to wait until next month at least when Sri Lanka play three T20 internationals in Australia.