South Africa dominated the proceedings of the second day of the opening Test against West Indies at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday. Not only did they consolidate on their overnight score, there were multiple milestones achieved by the batsmen from the home team. Amit Banerjee throws light upon some of those milestones achieved/bettered.
It was a bad day in the office for a depleted West Indian bowling attack, who let South Africa cross the 500-run mark with half of the visitors’ side left to bat on the Day Two of the opening Test at Centurion. The performance must not have occurred as a matter of surprise for anyone, given the stark contrast in the Test rankings of the two teams and their recent performances, with the Proteas currently occupying the top-spot on the Test ladder.
The mainstay for the South African run-fest was their stalwart Hashim Amla, who scored his third Test double-century to steer his side to a position of utter dominance aside from scoring the second-highest number of double-centuries by a South African batsman. Amla added 208 runs to his Test career tally before getting dismissed. His innings included 22 fours.
The following list the South African batsmen with most double-centuries in Test cricket:
The list contains batsmen with three or more double-centuries
Player
Tests
Runs
200s
Highest
Career Span
Graeme Smith
117
9,265
5
277
2002-2014
Gary Kirsten
101
7,289
3
275
1993-2004
Hashim Amla
79
6,415
3
311
2004-Present
Amla, in the process, also produced the highest score by a South African captain on home soil. Amla first skippered the side during the away Test series against Sri Lanka, which his side won 1-0. Following is the list of scores, which illustrate it further:
Player
Tests
Runs
Score
Career Span
Hashim Amla
79
6,415
208
2004-Present
Graeme Smith
101
7,289
183
2002-2014
Herbie Taylor
42
2,936
176
1912-1932
Graeme Smith
101
7,289
157
2002-2014
Graeme Smith
101
7,289
147
2002-2014
The batting performance has left the Proteas in charge of the match,the onus now is on the bowlers to to take advantage of the position they are in. South Africa, in the meantime, had declared on a score of 552 for five at tea on the second day. A couple of early West Indian wickets, would have capped off a fantastic day for the hosts but it wasn’t to be as play was called off early due to incessant rain.
(Amit Banerjee, a reporter at CricketCountry, takes keen interest in photography, travelling, technology, automobiles, food and, of course, cricket. He can be followed on Twitter via his handle@akb287)
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