Hashim Amla

Hashim Mahomed Amla is a South African former cricketer who played for the national team from 2004 to 2019, born in Durban on 31 March 1983. A right-handed top-order batter, he is South Africa's second-highest run-scorer in Tests and third-highest in One Day Internationals (ODIs), with 55 international centuries across the two formats, and he also played Twenty20 Internationals. ^{1 2 3 4}

He served as South Africa's captain in the mid-2010s, becoming the country's first permanent non-white Test captain in June 2014, and his professional career ran from 1999/2000 to 2022 across domestic and franchise teams worldwide. ¹

Born in Durban, Amla is described by the article as a devout Muslim. He is of Indian descent; his grandfather migrated to South Africa from Surat, India, in 1927. He was raised in a middle-class home and attended Durban High School. His elder brother, Ahmed Amla, was also a professional cricketer, and the brothers played together for a time at the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins. He is married to Sumaiyah and they have two children. ¹

His practice was visible throughout his career: he refused to wear the Castle brewery logo on his kit, and ESPNcricinfo's profile records that even as a teenager on an Under-19 tour he asked his roommate's leave to stay up at night and wake early to pray. During his record 311 not out at The Oval in July 2012, in Ramadan, he did not fast on match days because he was travelling, keeping his eating private out of respect, and said he would make the fasts up when he returned home. ¹

In August 2006, during a Test against Sri Lanka, the Australian commentator Dean Jones was heard on air referring to Amla as "the terrorist" after he took a catch; the remark was broadcast worldwide, Jones was widely condemned and his channel terminated his contract, and Jones apologised to Amla, who accepted the apology. ¹

On graduating from Durban High School and impressing on the youth circuit, Amla debuted for the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins and captained South Africa at the 2002 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, leading the team to the final. Former Western Province captain and coach Hylton Ackerman spotted and honed his talent. Amla was appointed captain of KwaZulu-Natal at 21 and was cited as a future South Africa captain from his first-class years; he moved from the Dolphins to the Cape Cobras in 2013. ¹

After scoring four centuries in his first eight innings of the 2004–05 domestic season, Amla was chosen for the winter 2004 tour of India at 21, becoming the first South African of Indian descent to represent South Africa in international cricket. He debuted at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on 28 November 2004, made a slow start while his technique was criticised, and proved his critics wrong in 2006 with a match-saving 149 against New Zealand at Newlands. He went on to hold South Africa's number three position, scoring 1,599 runs at 57.10 in his next 19 Tests. ¹

In February 2010 he scored 253 not out, 114 and 123 not out in the two-Test series in India. On the 2012 tour of England he scored 311 not out at The Oval — the highest Test score by a South African and the country's first triple century — in a man-of-the-match performance, and South Africa won the series 2–0 to top the ICC Test rankings. In January 2017 he played his 100th Test, against Sri Lanka, and scored a century in it, becoming the second South African after Graeme Smith to score a century in his hundredth Test. He finished with 9,282 Test runs and 28 Test centuries, and 8,113 ODI runs with 27 centuries, including a career-best 150 against England in 2012; in June 2019 he became the second-fastest batter to 8,000 ODI runs, in his 176th innings. ¹

In June 2014 Amla became South Africa's first permanent non-white Test captain, ahead of the Sri Lanka tour after Graeme Smith's retirement, and led the team to a historic series victory in Sri Lanka in his first series. He stepped down as captain in January 2016 after a drawn Test against England at Newlands. He played at the 2019 Cricket World Cup and on 8 August 2019 announced his retirement from all international cricket. He then worked as a batting consultant and mentor — for Cape Town Blitz and for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League — continued playing domestic and franchise cricket, including for Surrey, and in August 2023 was appointed batting coach of the Johannesburg-based Lions for three years. ¹

His public significance lies in his standing among the leading Test and ODI batters of his era, his authorship of South Africa's first Test triple century, his breaking of the colour bar in the permanent Test captaincy, and the prominence of his Muslim practice — including his refusal of an alcohol sponsor's logo — within one of the world's leading cricket teams. ¹

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