Hashim Amla goes past Graeme Smith's centuries tally in Test cricket

After serving an extended lean patch in the longer format, Hashim Amla started finding his form back as he struck centuries in consecutive Test matches against Bangladesh at home. The 34-year-old scored at an average of just 38.69 in his last 26 Test matches before this series with just three centuries. Till 2014, the South African had 23 hundreds in 81 Tests at an average of 52.40.

The period where he was out form affected Amla’s career statistics badly as his batting average slipped under 50 and recorded his lowest in five years. But the Bangladesh series brought him back in touch in the longer format as he scored 137 in the 1st Test match at Potchefstroom, his first Test hundred in 15 innings. He followed it with another hundred in the 2nd Test at Bloemfontein. This is the first time since 2012 Amla has scored hundreds in consecutive Tests.

With the 135-run knock, Amla scored in Bloemfontein brought up his 28th Test hundred and thus went past Graeme Smith’s 27 Test hundreds. Among South Africans, only Jacques Kallis (45) has more hundreds than Amla in Test cricket.

Most centuries for South Africa in Test cricket:

(Excluding numbers for ICC World XI)

South Africa’s 1st innings witnessed four centurions and two double hundred stands. Openers Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar gave a great start by scoring centuries and sharing a 243-run stand. Amla, along with Faf du Plessis took the team towards a huge total. The double hundred stand Amla shared with du Plessis was the 15th he was a part of.

Kallis holds the record for being a part of most double hundred stands in Test cricket. He was a part of 20 such stands with six of them with Amla. Graeme Smith was also a part of 200+ stands on  15 occasions in Tests while only Sachin Tendulkar (18) and Ricky Ponting (17) were involved in more double century stands than Amla.

Part of most double century stands in Test cricket:

(Stats as on October 7, 2017)