Neil Mckenzie and Hashim Amla confirmed the consistency and reliability of the Proteas top six as they comfortably saw their team through the final day’s play of the first test in the Future Cup series on Sunday to earn South Africa a more than honourable draw.
McKenzie finished unbeaten on 155 when play was halted an hour before the official close with South Africa’s lead an unassailable 244 runs with five wickets in hand and he looked as though he could have gone on to his second double century in successive test matches on the sub-continent had the need arisen.
As it was, he set a South African record aggregate for a test match against India of 249, a record that had briefly been held earlier in the day by Amla with 240. McKenzie has now scored some 500 runs in his five test innings on the sub-continent and Proteas fans can expect him to cash in on a lot more before the current series is over.
Amla followed up his 159 (run out) in the first innings with another beautifully crafted innings of 81. It says a lot for the manner in which the bespectacled Nashua Dolphin has batted that the Indians have clearly had to change their game plan against him. Once again he underlined the manner in which he has developed his off-side game with some masterful cover drives and punches off both front and back foot.
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Mckenzie, Amla in control
Mckenzie, Amla in control
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