Amla hopes Proteas' appearance in WTC final can reinvigorate love of Test cricket in SA
Cricket
By
Hashim Amla hopes the Proteas' appearance at the ICC World Test Championship final at Lord's against Australia can reinvigorate a love of red-ball cricket in SA.
Amla was a key cog in a vintage Proteas generation, starring as part of the class of 2012 who sealed their status as the best Test team in the world at Lord's in a match which saw the batter etch his name on the honours board for a second time.
The current crop are looking to follow in those footsteps against Australia on the same ground, and Amla stressed the significance of seeing SA on this stage when it comes to reminding the world of the talent in the country.
'SA have been a powerhouse in cricket for many years in all formats. Not long ago we reached the final in the T20 [World Cup],' he said.
'We have had a rich heritage ever since we came back into international cricket. It is extremely important SA are seen and can perform to a standard to be included among the top Test nations.
'We have the SA20 League, which has created a huge surge of interest among youngsters. The crowds have been packed, and to have a Test team doing well will hopefully create a resurgence of the love of Test cricket.
'It is difficult because youngsters grow up, see sixes and fours and get attracted to the glitz and glamour of T20 cricket. But Test cricket offers other great virtues of discipline, patience and real deep values that it is very healthy to have and aspire to.
'Getting to the final of the competition makes us very proud and very happy. It shows SA are still a force in Test cricket and the world cricketing family.'
Amla boasted an excellent record against Australia over his career, scoring five centuries against them, including a best of 196 in a 309-run win at the WACA in 2012.
He played 21 times apiece against Australia, India and England and hopes this generation of Proteas stars receive similar opportunities to test their mettle against the best opposition.
'Not long ago, we played Australia every two years, either home or away. That goes for England and India too,' he said. 'We had fixtures which were always of high quality and that helped the players develop their game.
'If you are playing against high quality opposition, you will naturally raise your game and judge yourself against the best, so you are always improving.'
One Proteas star who has kicked on in recent years is captain Temba Bavuma, a regular source of runs on their route to the final.
Amla has been hugely impressed by the skipper on and off the field and hailed the way he has juggled his responsibilities.
'Temba has been amazing,' he said. 'No-one would have given SA a chance of getting to the final when this started two years ago but he has led the team brilliantly and performed outstandingly as a batsman.
'That is one of the important aspects of being captain, not to forget about your batting, so he has done amazingly well to maintain his batting performance and he has taken it to another level. He is the mainstay and most important batter for SA.
'The way he has led, he is tactically very good and he has the respect of the team. The fact they are in the final means he has been doing all the right things.'
The Lord's showpiece followed a special night for Amla earlier in the week as he became one of the seven newest inductees into the ICC Hall of Fame.
He was joined by his former captain Graeme Smith, MS Dhoni, Matthew Hayden, Sarah Taylor, Sana Mir and Daniel Vettori in being recognised.
'It is a huge honour, not something you ever think about when you grow up playing cricket in the back yard as a passion,' he said.'To be recognised and included alongside some of those names is a bit mind-boggling.
'From a South African perspective, you have guys like Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock in there, and Graeme [Smith] is someone I played with for 70-odd Test matches and was a great leader for us.
'Then worldwide, guys like Matthew Hayden, who I grew up watching destroy attacks around the world, it is amazing and I am so grateful to be included among those names.
'It was a fantastic evening. There were lots of Beatles fans reminiscing about where songs had been recorded and it feels very surreal.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The South African
2 hours ago
- The South African
Gayton McKenzie in embarrassing water polo gaffe
While it's true that South Africa are in the midst of a 'golden' period – especially on the sporting field – Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie may just have gotten a little too carried away with his patriotism. It appears that, embarrassingly, McKenzie did not pay careful enough attention to one of his 'own' sporting federation's teams competing in Europe. McKenzie took to social media on Saturday to post: 'We are the best sporting nation in the world ' in reaction to an image of the South African U20 water polo side finishing 19th – and second LAST – at the U20 World Championships in Croatia. Awkward! Clearly Gayton McKenzie had not done his homework and assumed, one can only imagine, that the side had in fact won the tournament when it clearly states '19th/20th final'. Even more embarrassing for the Minister of Sport was the fact that the team had to finance their own way to the tournament. The team included schoolboys as young as 16. The gaffe quickly did the rounds on WhatsApp groups on Saturday, to the amusement of many. In their initial group matches, the South African side suffered heavy defeats against Brazil (25-6) and Germany (30-1). In what was then termed the classification round, the South African side then went down 7-6 to Kazakhstan, 21-8 to Colombia and 21-10 to Canada. That put them in the playoff for 19th-20th place against New Zealand – a match they won 16-15 following a penalty shootout. In total, the South African U20 side played six matches, lost five, won one, scored 47 goals and conceded a whopping 119 for an average defeat of 20-8. None of the South African team's matches were against any of the eight best sides in the world who were drawn in Division 1. Quite why Gayton McKenzie was celebrating those performances so enthusiastically, is somewhat puzzling. Even more baffling was the thousands of 'likes' and messages of congratulations that the post received! While South Africa does currently boast the world champion Springboks and Proteas, the world's strongest man and woman, and several of the fastest athletes in the world – among other impressive feats – it does not have – and will never lay claim to having – a water polo side that will ever win an international tournament. You'd think even the most optimistic Minister of Sport would know that … Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
7 hours ago
- IOL News
Proteas Women coach Mandla Mashimbiyi kicks of tenure with a bang
Just his second tour in charge of the Proteas Women and coach Mandla Mashimbiyi is looking like he's shaping up some future World Cup holders. The Proteas Women defeated the West Indies by 50 runs in the first of three T20 matches on Friday night, where Tazmin Brits (98 not out) did most of the heavy lifting with the bat. All rounder Nadine de Klerk said Mashimbiyi has instilled a decent amount of positive intent in the ladies, especially in the attitudes towards which they approach the game. Brits was the only Proteas to put up a score on Friday night, contributing more than half to the Proteas 183 runs which they set. Throughout this series, since the first ODI match in Barbados, the Proteas have batted first as conditions in the Caribbean favour the bowlers. But the green and gold showed that statistics and analysis only count for a meagre amount when it comes to the game of cricket, which is why it is played on the field and not on paper. But the statistics under Mashimbiyi look good so far, in his first West Indies's T20 series outing as coach. 'We just had the one T20 training session before the game, it was a pretty tight schedule but we did a lot of stuff in training. I know there weren't a lot of batters that scored runs but everyone went out there and tried to go for it," said De Klerk. 'I think the positive intent we are batting with is really good to see. Even in the ODI's, we reached 300 runs in six out of our 12 innings and made 180 today (on Friday). "I think him really promoting positivity, taking the game on and not being scared to fail is really paying off for us as a side." De Klerk said Brits' innings of 98 not out was one of the best innings she has seen in women's cricket, taking the West Indies on despite the lack of support from the other end. Mashimbiyi's 'bomb squad', made up of Annerie Dercksen, De Klerk and Chloe Tryon did not make any real contributions on Friday night besides De Klerk's 21 off 17 balls. Experience has counted when it matters for the Proteas Women, with Brits and Marizanne Kapp having a consistent series so far. Kapp has been instrumental with the ball since joining the squad at the beginning of the tour, snatching 2/27 from three overs on Friday night. 'In the ideal world, we would like everybody to contribute. Taz scored 70% of our runs today (Friday night) but I think we know what we have in our team and sometimes its different people raising their hands up every single game. "In the ODI's, we had a few different girls putting in some performances as well. But hopefully we just take a lot of confidence out of this win,' De Klerk said.
Daily Maverick
9 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Proteas' focus shifts focus to white-ball format with next Test a distant dream for fans
White-ball cricket and the 2027 ICC World Cup on home soil are Proteas' new focus. South Africa are officially the best Test cricket side in the world after their five-wicket win over Australia on Saturday, 14 June 2025, in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord's. The nation rejoiced in a victory that was nearly 3o years in the making. Tournament after tournament of heartbreak later, the Proteas finally delivered meaningful silverware to the cabinet. So, when will South Africans get to watch the world champions play the format in front of them again? October 2026 is the answer. That's right — only then. Eighteen months on from their historic victory is when they will play in a Test at home. The opponents will be Australia, in a three-match series. The next time the Proteas run out in white clothes and bowl with a red ball in front of a home crowd, their crowning moment will be a distant memory. South Africa will host eight Test matches in the summer of 2026-27 — two matches against Bangladesh sandwiched in between three-match series against Australia and England. And this summer of 2025-26? Zero. For the first time since readmission, South Africa will not host any Test matches over the course of their summer season. In fact, the Proteas will only host five matches all summer, and they're all in the shortest format: West Indies touring the country for five T20Is in January and February 2026. All about the white ball next South Africa's next few months are littered with white-ball cricket as they look to build for the one-day international (ODI) ICC World Cup at home, staged in 2027. South Africa head to Zimbabwe for a two-match Test series — which doesn't count for the next WTC cycle — before a tri-series T20I tournament in the country, which includes New Zealand. They then travel to Australia and England in August and September for three ODIs and three T20Is in each country. After that they fly over to the subcontinent through the early summer months to take on Pakistan and India, which will each host two Test matches and three ODIs before Pakistan host three T20Is and India host five. With the national team's home summer so sparse, the fourth season of the SA20 will start a few weeks earlier than usual, on Boxing Day, to ensure some cricket content in the period so often associated with Test cricket in the country. It's somewhat ironic that the SA20 is filling this space, and it paints a picture of the changing landscape of the sport. The Proteas' WTC charge was almost derailed because of the first-choice players' contractual obligation to play in the SA20 at the start of 2024, instead of touring New Zealand for a two-match series. Not only did it put South Africa in a position where they had to win seven of their last eight matches to qualify for the final, which they did, it also helped the Black Caps beat the Proteas in a Test series for the first time in the sport's history. Although it looks like a steady overhaul of the shortest format in favour of the longest one, those who still play the red-ball game want to see it maintain its relevance. 'Favourite format' 'It's always been my most important and favourite format,' said Aiden Markram, the WTC final's player of the match. 'Naturally, playing fewer games is not really on us — it's just the cards that get dealt. But it's really important, in my opinion, to keep Test cricket as the number one priority in South Africa. 'We understand all the dynamics that are happening in the cricket world and that's completely fair, but it's more about the young guy coming through — that his main thing is to get a Test match baggy and play Test match cricket for South Africa. 'If we can still do that, it's fine. How long they play for is a different conversation in the world of cricket nowadays. 'But the number one priority should always be to play Test cricket and I've always felt that, believed that. If we can get that back with the younger people coming through, I think we've done well.' South Africa's Test tour to Zimbabwe is littered with talented youngsters. Lhuan-dre Pretorius (19) and Dewald Brevis (22) have lit up T20 tournaments in the past, and they are the two standout young names who are expected to make their debut in South Africa's first match as champions. World Cup in South Africa There was some criticism of the strength of the opposition South Africa faced on their road to the WTC final, as they didn't meet Australia or England prior to the final. Even though England only won half of their WTC fixtures, their reputation as being among the 'Big Three' somehow invalidated South Africa's charge. This time round, in the 2025-27 cycle, South Africa will play England and Australia at home as well as playing India away. 'We play whatever's put in front of us,' Proteas coach Shukri Conrad said. 'There's a lot of things we'd like but we can't get. We just play the cards we're dealt. And it's often not what you've been dealt, but how you play those cards.' ICC World Cup With the influx of white-ball cricket, though, the focus does shift to succeeding at the 2027 ICC World Cup on home soil. So much of South Africa's planning over the past few years has been about winning the tournament, including the hiring of director of national teams and high performance Enoch Nkwe, whose contract runs until the end of it. This WTC win, though warmly welcomed, wasn't part of the long-term planning like the 2027 ICC World Cup is. Conrad has taken over the white-ball sides too, and players such as superstar Kagiso Rabada have had their appetite for success whetted with the victory at Lord's. 'This has obviously given us confidence that we can do it again,' Rabada said. 'I don't know how I would be feeling if the result went the other way around, but let's not think too much about that. 'This gives confidence for the future, and confidence comes from doing good things.' South Africa will hope that the WTC win will inspire Rabada and company to go on and break the nation's World Cup duck as well in 2027, with everything being set up for them to succeed at home. DM
