Amla's early years in South African Test colors were modest ones. His first Test hundred came in his 4th Test on a flat wicket at Newlands after a couple of rough Tests against England in the 2004-05 home season. It ended in a draw. Only 21 wickets fell. Stephen Fleming made 262, and James Franklin made an undefeated century batting a number 10. Ashwell Prince also made a century. It would be March 2008 before Amla made a Test century against a team other than New Zealand. At Chepauk, he made 159 in a South African first innings of 540 all out. South Africa conceded a first innings lead in that game thanks to Virender Sehwag's 319. A few weeks later, Amla was at Lord's. South Africa found themselves following on after England made 593/8 thanks to a blistering 151 by Kevin Pietersen and 199 from Ian Bell. But even here, Amla's century in the follow on came after Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie made centuries in a double century opening stand.
This was the pattern of Amla's run making in the 2000s. His big scores invariably came in games where many other players scored big as well. He began to depart from this pattern in December 2009. South Africa were trying to set up a match winning declaration in the 3rd innings of the opening Test of their 2009-10 home series against England. They led by 62 on the first innings, but were reduced to 46/4 by the English line up of Anderson, Onions, Broad and Swann. Amla made an even hundred and South Africa were able to declare at 301/7. They didn't win.
A historian looking at the statistics for Test batsmen until 2009 might wonder what the fuss was about with Hashim Amla. A decidedly middle-of-the-road record over 39 Tests from 2004 to the end of 2009 suggests that she might have been right. Amla though, was waiting to explode. His first 5 Test innings in 2010 were 75, 95, 253*, 114 and 123*. In 37 Tests since Jan 1 2010, Amla has made 14 centuries including a triple hundred at the Oval, a blistering 196 in only 221 balls at Perth (he reached his century in 87 balls), and a brilliant defensive 123 not out in 394 balls at Eden Gardens. He has made a triple hundred, a double hundred and a century in each innings of a Test, all away from home. Additionally, he also made a century in a 4th innings run chase. Amla's performance at Eden Gardens in February 2010 is perhaps one of the greatest individual batting performances in modern Test history.
Amla also built a formidable ODI record during this time. He became the fastest to reach 4000 ODI runs, beating Viv Richards' record. The magnitude of this achievement is worth reflecting on for a moment. Richards scored his 4000th ODI run in his 88th innings on 14 April 1985. At the time, he was the first player to reach this mark. Hashim Amla was the 88th player to reach this mark. Only 2 other players - Virat Kohli and Gordon Greenidge - reached 4000 career ODI runs in less than a 100 innings. Amla did it in 81 innings. Keep in mind that he plays a lot of ODIs in South Africa.
Amla's ODI play, as phenomenal as it has been, has been secondary to his Test match brilliance. He is premier number 3 batsman in Test cricket today. South Africa also have the all-round batting virtuosity of AB deVilliers, but Amla is the better batsman in my view. With the captaincy, Amla begins a new phase in his career. He will probably read South Africa through a transition phase as Dale Steyn's all-time-great career as a strike bowlers winds down. His success with the Test team will depend on whether or not South Africa find a new top level fast man - a worthy successor to Allan Donald and Dale Steyn. Under Smith's leadership, South Africa won 16 and lost 12 without Steyn, and won 37, lost 16 with Steyn.
Whether or not he is successful as captain, and whether or not the captaincy affects his batting adversely as it has done with some many otherwise successful batsmen, Hashim Amla fits the ideal notion of a Test captain perfectly. Over the past decade he has been a model Test cricketer - a tough competitor, calm, measured, not given to displays of temper or petulance on the field, and a magnificient batsman. He comes from the same top drawer of Test leaders as Dravid and Clarke and Ponting and Vaughan. If his unflappable mastery at the crease rubs off on his Proteas, the rest of the Test world will be extremely worried.
Hashim Amla's appointment as South Africa's Test captain is one of the best pieces of cricketing news in a year which has had more than its fair share of dismal news, from the hostile takeover of the ICC by the Big Three, to the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen, and the sad choice made by West Indian ace Sunil Narine, who chose to bowl 4 overs in an IPL game over facing New Zealand in a Test Match at Sabina Park.
Despite his seemingly effortless dismantling of India's bowlers in recent years, Hashim Amla has a lifelong fan in this blog. Test Cricket will be a better sport with Amla captaining one of its premier teams.