Amla’s 150 was the centrepiece of the Proteas’ 80 run-win in the second ODI in Southampton as they went 1-0 up in the five-match series following last week’s washout in Cardiff. The win meant the Proteas had knocked England off the summit of both Test and 50-over standings.
Match-winner Amla insisted he played one of the ‘better’ innings of his career.
“It definitely felt like one of my better ones,” said Amla. “I think what makes it special to me is it was a difficult wicket. We won the game too, you always want to score runs in a winning cause.”
Top spot not the priority: De Villiers
Meanwhile, South Africa’s ODI captain AB de Villiers, while pleased by his side’s rise to number one in the rankings, said the key aim in 50-over cricket was to win a major trophy.
“It’s a great achievement but it’s not something that is one of our main goals,” explained the wicket-keeper batsman. “We have a World Cup in 2015, the Champions Trophy coming up.”
Reflecting on the match, De Villiers praised a youthful bowling line-up shorn of rested spearhead Dale Steyn.
“The guys kept looking for wickets and that was the most impressive thing, apart from Hashim’s great knock – we bowled them out again.”
England skipper Alistair Cook insisted, while acknowledging defeat was frustrating, that his side will bounce back in the next match.
“It’s frustrating, it’s annoying as a captain and all the players will be hurting,” said Cook. “But you don’t throw everything out of the window and try to reinvent the wheel because of one bad performance. Hopefully, we can bounce back at The Oval.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2012.
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