Hashim Amla showed he wouldn’t be intimidated by Australia’s mind games, scoring an unbeaten 90 to guide South Africa to 255-2 at stumps on Friday after a cricket series-opening day dominated by the batsmen.
Amla surpassed 5,000 career runs and shared partnerships of 136 with Jacques Kallis (84 not out) for the third wicket and 90 for the second wicket with opener Alviro Petersen (64).
A leaked Australia team dossier which appeared in local media in the lead-up to the first test said Amla was susceptible to “psychological warfare”.
There was no indication of any such weakness on Friday as he moved within 10 runs of posting a century for a third successive test against Australia.
He did give some chances and half-chances – including a slashing edge between wicketkeeper and first slip off Nathan Lyon when he was on 62 – but remained composed.
The 63-test veteran went in at the dismissal of skipper Graeme Smith (10) with the total at 29. He survived an appeal for lbw before he’d scored and a caught-and-bowled chance to Peter Siddle on 74. He had faced 205 balls and stroked six boundaries and a six when play was halted eight overs early due to bad light.
Kallis plundered the attack for eight boundaries and a six from the 136 balls he faced.