Hashim Amla hundred keeps South Africa afloat

South African captain Hashim Amla defied England’s bowlers and batted throughout the third day of the second Test at Newlands on Monday.

Amla made an unbeaten 157 as South Africa reached 353/3 at the close, still 276 runs behind England’s first innings total of 629/6 declared.

AB de Villiers was the only batsman dismissed during the day as South Africa, 1-0 down in the four-Test series, dug in on a pitch which offered no assistance to the bowlers.

Steven Finn was the only successful bowler. He had De Villiers caught at midwicket shortly before tea after Amla and De Villiers had put on 183 in a third wicket partnership which lasted for two minutes short of five hours.

Faf du Plessis, who like Amla had endured a lean spell with the bat, made 51 not out as he helped his captain put on an unbeaten 85 for the fourth wicket. It was a crucial innings for Amla, who was under pressure for both his captaincy and his batting. South Africa have not won a Test since beating the West Indies at the same venue a year ago, while Amla had made only 150 runs at an average of 15.00 in 10 innings since that match.

It was a triumph of technique and concentration as he made his first Test century since he hit 208 against the West Indies in Centurion in December 2014. By the close he had batted for nine hours and 26 minutes and had faced 371 balls. His innings included 21 fours.

After the worst year of his international career, Amla had two strokes of luck. He was dropped by James Anderson at slip off Joe Root when he was on 76 and by Nick Compton at backward point off Steven Finn when he had 120.

With South Africa’s batting having been fragile for most of 2015, the partnership between Amla and De Villiers, the side’s two senior batsmen, was important for the team.

SCOREBOARD England (1st innings): 629/6 decl. South Africa (1st innings): D. Elgar c Compton b Stokes 44, S. van Zyl (run out) 4, H. Amla (batting) 157, AB de Villiers c Anderson b Finn 88, F. du Plessis (batting) 51. Extras (lb3, w6) 9. Total (for 3 wkts, in 130 overs) 353 FoW: 1-7, 2-85, 3-268. Bowling: Anderson 24-8-53-0, Broad 20-4-54-0, Ali 31-9-80-0, Finn 26-3-82-1 (2w), Root 5-2-12-0, Stokes 21-3-67-1 (4w), Hales 3-1-2-0