Amla's double-ton smashes records Print E-mail
Category: Features
Written by Luke Tagg   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 16:34
Hashim Amla's awesome 253* against India in the first Test in Nagpur broke all sorts of batting records for both him and South African cricket, as the Proteas compiled 558/6 declared in their first innings.

A number of factors were stacked against him making such a score: the team was in disarray following the shock resignation of Mickey Arthur and the subsequent sacking of the selectors, he was away from home in probably the most difficult part of the world to bat, the pitch was turning like a fourth-day strip and he was facing the No. 1 team in world cricket.

Add to that the fact that the openers were both out before he'd made a run and it's a wonder that Hash made any runs at all.

Let's take a look at some of the records he set in this innings:

For starters, it was Amla's highest ever first-class score, beating his previous best of 249 which he made in the 2005 SuperSport Series final against the Eagles.

Naturally it was his highest Test score, beating his previous best of 176* against New Zealand in the first Test at the Wanderers in 2007.

The not-out score greatly helped his average as well, taking it from 40.75 to 44.47. He also became the 13th South African to reach 3,000 Test runs.

It was the highest score by a South African batting at No. 3 and the 7th-highest score by any batsman in any position for South Africa.

It was also the highest score by any South African against India (beating the 217* made by AB de Villiers in Ahmedabad in 2008) and the highest score by any South African batsman on the subcontinent, beating Graeme Smith's 232 against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2008.

Amla batted for 675 minutes, making it the second-longest innings (in terms of minutes) by any South African batsman, second only to Gary Kirsten's mammoth 878-minute innings against England in 1999, which itself remains the second-longest innings of all time.

In compiling a 340-run partnership with Jacques Kallis (who made 173) a number of partnership records were also set: it was the third-highest partnership for the 3rd wicket for South Africa and the 7th-highest for any wicket.

It was also the 10th-highest partnership for the third wicket by any team in Test cricket.

It's safe to say that you can expect Hash to rise up in the ICC Test Player rankings once this Test is done - that was a mighty special innings.

Credit to Kepler Wessels? He is the new batting coach after all.
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