Graeme http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598’s knock was the stepping stone for us, feels Hashim Amla – Cricket News Update
Having scored a magnificent hundred in his 100th Test match, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HM-Amla-c1557, who said that the left-hander laid the foundation for a big score.
The Proteas piled up a mammoth score of 637 runs on the board after losing just two wickets in their first innings at the Oval, replying to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s 385.
Amla played the innings of his life, becoming the first South African to score a triple century in the game’s history. He remained unbeaten on 311, which came off 529 balls, with the help of 35 boundaries.
Smith and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JH-Kallis-c1692 also scored massive hundreds to help their team compete against the number one ranked Test team of the world.
The visitors had lost one of their opening batsmen, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hamisi-Abdallah-c61368 and Smith accumulated 259 runs for the second-wicket partnership.
Amla expressed that his captain saw the team through the tough phase, when the English bowlers had their tails up with the new ball. The right-handed batsman praised Smith’s attacking approach, who took the pressure off him when runs were not coming easily.
The cricketer from Natal feels that the captain complimented him beautifully during the game-changing partnership.
"Graeme batted superbly," the 29-year-old cricketer said. "His knock was a major stepping stone for us in our big total: the way he managed to grind it out. We went through patches where we didn't score a lot and then either he would score freely or I would.
That's the beauty of a big partnership. You keep encouraging each other as you go on and you keep building. You want to put the team in the best position as possible."
At the close of play on day four, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Vernon-Philander-c2753), who grabbed a scalp each.
He added, "http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110, Morne and Vernon got the ball to move a bit. It's their good skill that is coming through."
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