By Richard Sydenham
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) – Hashim Amla emphasised his team
came before personal goals on Sunday when he said he was more
pleased to have put South Africa in a position to win the first
test against England than to score a record 311 not out.
Amla bettered the previous best score by a South African,
278 by team mate AB de Villiers, and became only the sixth
person to score a test triple hundred in England following Don
Bradman, Leonard Hutton, John Edrich, Bobby Simpson and Graham
Gooch.
“”I didn’t dream about getting 300, although you would love
to,” Amla told reporters at the end of the fourth day. ““I’ve
always been a person who never sets goals and I think that
helps, because you can keep going and going without being
limited by having set something up.
““With my scoring rate, 300 is usually a very long way off
so it only really crossed my mind when I got to 250. I was
involved in the game when AB got 278, so I was aware of it, but
if I had got out before that, so be it. I’m a firm believer you
have just got to keep batting.”
Amla, 29, is a devout Muslim and although it is the holy
month of Ramadan, he said he will observe the fast when he
returns home to Durban. For now, he is just enjoying the moment
and was also heartened that fellow South African Ernie Els won
the British Open at Royal Lytham.
““I’m just really grateful that I managed to get the highest
score by a South African, but what is perhaps more pleasing is
that I’m the first guy to get 300 – records will be broken,
there’s no doubt about that, so that comes and goes.
“”But I think the biggest pleasure is that the team is in a
really dominant position to win this test match. I think that’s
the biggest joy.”
(Editing by John Mehaffey)
