Agency
Cape Town: South African captain Hashim Amla defied England’s bowlers and batted throughout the third day of the second Test at Newlands today.
Amla made an unbeaten 157 as South Africa reached 353 for three at the close, still 276 runs behind England’s first innings total of 629 for six 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. (PTI)
SCORE BOARD
England 1st innings
AN Cook* c Morris b Rabada 27
AD Hales c de Villiers b Morkel 60
NRD Compton c Bavuma b Rabada 45
JE Root c †de Kock b Morris 50
JWA Taylor c †de Kock b Rabada 0
BA Stokes run out (de Villiers) 258
JM Bairstow† not out 150
MM Ali not out 0
Extras 39 Total 629/6 dec
South Africa 1st innings
D Elgar c Compton b Stokes 44
S van Zyl run out (Compton/†Bairstow) 04
HM Amla* not out 157
AB de Villiers c Anderson b Finn 88
F du Plessis not out 51
Extras 09
Total 353/3
