What a hundred! What a genius!

I and you know very well, Dean Elgar is one those batsman who is more about grinding rather than executing strokes all around the park, but me and you are not accustomed to the attritional nature of Hashim Amla. In Test cricket, Amla is not habituated to grind, but he is always a fluent stroke-maker who paints a beautiful picture on the green canvas of Test cricket. Surprisingly, after lunch, Amla joined Elgar to script a pretty ultra-defensive mode.

Without a doubt, the Australian pace bowlers were at the top of their mark – dished out fast and full length deliveries consistently to test the skill and temperament of batsmen.  There was no respite. But,when a class like Amla is around, you would definitely expect him to rotate the strike as much as possible rather than milking boundaries. Yes, it’s tough to score boundaries against the hostility of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, but for someone Amla, it actually doesn’t suit to trap within a shell.

I would have accepted such an ultra-defensive mode in the first hour, but scoring just around 41 runs in 26 overs did not make any senses in conditions like South Africa, Australia and England, I repeat,hanging around the park cannot fetch anything better. Either you need to rotate the strike or counterattack.

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ended up the ghost of Amla and Elgar after tea and when Mitchell Marsh struck gold twice, South Africa were at risk of losing the upper hand gained on Day 1. The situation required the golden son of South African cricket to step up and script a knock and steady the ship. It demanded a counterattack and the man did just what the doctors orderd.

AB de Villiers conquered the final session like a champion. The guy is a genius. He was unfazed by the hostility of the Australian pace attack and countered their deadly reverse-swing like a master. He was so quick to get behind the line due to astute footwork, it reminded me of Brian Lara and Martin Crowe, who handled Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in the early 90s.

AB de Villiers is one of the finest drivers of the cricket ball through the covers. But in this innings, he curbed his instincts to play through the covers and targeted the midwicket region. But the striking thing was playing late through the third man and backward point by being airborne on this tricky track – 21% of runs through third man and 8.4 through backward point.

Now, this is not something which a good batsman can do, but this is the work of someone extraordinary. Moreover, his strike rate has been around 85% on this deck. What would you say about this? We witnessed an innings for the ages.

AB de Villiers notched up a hundred after two years and what a hundred it had been!

Feeling privileged.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar