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With his spot in the playing XI being uncertain, Hashim Amla made a strong case for himself with his recent performances in South Africa’s warm-up matches ahead of their World Cup opening fixture against match England on May 30.
Shared News| Updated: May 27, 2019 6:14:29 pm
Hashim Amla scored unbeaten 65 and then 51 in South Africa’s warm-up matches against Sri Lanka and West Indies.
With his spot in the playing XI being uncertain, Hashim Amla made a strong case for himself with his recent performances in South Africa’s warm-up matches ahead of their World Cup opening fixture against England on May 30. The 36-year-old scored unbeaten 65 and then 51 in South Africa’s warm-up matches against Sri Lanka and West Indies.
However, with Aiden Markram also in the 15-man World Cup squad, there is stiff competition on who will open the innings for the Proteas along with Quinton de Kock.
Recently during an interaction with ICC, the South African cricketer said that getting runs on the board is always important but being included or excluded from the playing XI is the team management’s call.
“Scoring runs is always important. Whether I make the playing XI or not is not up to me. I do what I can do and what happens after that is for the benefit of the team,” Amla was quoted as saying by the ICC website.
The veteran cricketer also explained the reason for not participating in a domestic T20 competition’s knock-out rounds and utilising the time to prepare for the mega event.
“T20 is different to fifty-over cricket. I had two weeks with (batting coach) Dale Benkenstein and spent time in the nets batting the way a fifty-over cricketer would bat It was important to have that time. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn’t,” said Amla.
Amla, who’s South Africa’s most experienced campaigner, wants to help the unit with vital information.
“It’s (guidance) something you don’t try and force. It happens naturally. It’s not something I consciously think about but I think it happens anyway. There’s a lot of experience in the playing XI and the coaching staff so that osmosis of information and knowledge is going to happen anyway.”
