The art of Amla

by confuzzled dude Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:52 pm

I had not seen anyone with such bat speed. Amla was different and it showed.  In India we talk a lot about Virat Kohli's enviable record in ODIs but Amla's numbers are even better. He took 13 fewer innings than Vivian Richards (and Kohli) to get to 5000 runs, and he scores a century every 5.5 innings, which is better than anyone who has played the limited-overs game. Add to that the fact that he opens the batting, while playing most of his cricket on seamer-friendly South African pitches, where even the best players average about ten runs per innings fewer than their career average. Not to mention his phenomenal Test numbers.

Amla is indeed one of the modern greats.  Like most South African batsmen he has a back and across movement followed by a step forward as a trigger movement to set himself up before the ball is bowled. You tend to do this if you practise a lot against the bowling machine while growing up. But playing against the bowling machine also makes you tend to keep your bat in the air while standing in your stance (like Jacques Kallis did), and mostly the bat comes down from the first-slip region (once again, like Kallis).

Amla is different in this regard, for his bat comes down from the third- or fourth-slip region, if not from gully.  To ensure that the bat comes down straight, Amla makes a loop at the top of his backlift, because regardless of where the bat starts its inward trajectory from, it must come down through the first-slip direction to present the full face while playing. Since Amla launches the bat in through gully, it needs to travel a greater distance, which means he needs to do one of two things to ensure that he isn't late on the ball: one, initiate the downswing a little earlier, or two, bring the bat through quicker than other batsmen do.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/838033.html

Probably the most underrated player of his generation

by Vakavaka Pakapaka Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:32 pm

Pickled amla is good for health.

by Seva Lamberdar Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:27 am

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:Pickled amla is good for health.

LOL.

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