Teammates hail Amla as one of the greats on the eve of his 100th Test

On the eve of his 100th Test against Sri Lanka at Wanderers Stadium on Thursday‚ Proteas batting talisman Hashim Amla was hailed by teammates Stephen Cook and Wayne Parnell as an undoubted stalwart of the South African game.

When he walks on to the hallowed Bullring turf for third and final Test where South Africa could complete a 3-0 whitewash over the Sri Lankans‚ Amla will become only the eighth South African to feature in a century of Test matches.

The elegant Amla will join an exclusive group that features other South African cricketing greats such as Jacques Kallis‚ Mark Boucher‚ Graeme Smith‚ Shaun Pollock‚ Makhaya Ntini‚ Gary Kirsten and AB de Villiers in the hundred club.

Cook‚ who will be playing in front of his home crowd and has known Amla since their school days‚ described the 33-year old Amla as a fantastic person and one of the best batsman that South Africa has produced.

“I grew up playing school cricket against him while he was at Durban High School and I was playing for KES‚" Cook said on Tuesday.

"I have always known him as a great player and fantastic person and you just have to look at his statistics.

"I have been fortunate to share various dressing rooms with him from the time he was my captain at under-19 level to now where we are playing Test cricket together 15 years later.”

Wayne Parnell said they want to win the Test match and whitewash the Sri Lankans for the sake of Amla who has been the foundation for many successes on the pitch since 2004.

"Like Stephen (Cook) said‚ his record speaks for itself‚" Parnell said.

"The man has scored almost 8000 Test runs at an average of almost 50 which is remarkable.

"He has been one of the pillars of this team for long periods of time and it will be nice of us to give him victory that will ensure a whitewash on this special occasion.

"We haven’t had a whitewash in a while and it will be nice to do it for him.”

Parnell added that throughout his international career‚ Amla has always been someone who he turned for advice when things got tough.

“He has been like a brother to me on tour and an awesome team man and I wish him well on Thursday.”

Cook added that Amla is a calming influence in the team and someone with a good feel of the game who knows how to share his tactical knowledge with those around him.

“On my debut‚ I batted with him for long periods of time and he was so welcoming and helpful‚" Cook said.

"He is a voice of calm when situations get tricky‚ he is there when people need to be grounded a little bit.

"He is a voice of reason and he brings a lot of confidence to the group.

"I spoke about him in Australia‚ even though he did not get enough runs‚ because of the impact he had on the guys to perform was immense.

"His experience on the wickets there and how to deal with the Australians during the off-field difficulties that we encountered there was of big help to us.

“He plays a vital role on the side whether he scores naught or a hundred‚ he is one of those guys who starts on 30 because he is worth 30 runs for his experience.” - TMG Digital