Brilliant Amla breaks 300 barrier

As South Africa have been playing Test cricket for a hundred years, even allowing for a hiatus, it was some moment when Hashim Amla drove just over extra cover to bring up the country's first triple century.

Amla would not have been allowed to play cricket for South Africa before that hiatus, or but for that hiatus, which lasted from 1970 to 1992. So maybe there was some belated justice in a member of a community that had faced so many barriers in breaking this one.

No less gratifying was Jacques Kallis's reaction at the other end. A phlegmatic man, the holder of most of the other South African batting records, did a leap for joy as the record-breaking shot took Amla from 299 to the promised land.

Amla's partnership of 377 with Kallis, never broken, was the highest third-wicket stand against England - and to think Amla's stand of 259 with Graeme Smith had seemed big. Never before yesterday (Sunday) had England conceded two partnerships of 250 in one innings.

England did not have a prayer. Or perhaps they did have a prayer before start of play: O Lord, give us this day our daily wicket. But having been granted a wicket on Friday, and a second on Saturday, the Lord's Day was not so generous.

Some spectators were surprised when South Africa declared at tea time: it was more adventurous than their declarations usually are. But England had nobody left to bowl. If, instead of ripping through England, South Africa had batted through to the end of the fifth day, with AB de Villiers and Jacques Rudolph and J-P Duminy to come, they would have strolled to the first four-figure Test score.

On Friday Amla had entered a zone of relaxed, low-burn concentration and he did not leave it for two whole days. Nothing ruffled his serenity except, strangely, Ravi Bopara's medium pace, off which he gave his only two chances: a caught-and-bowled and an edge past slip. He nicked Tim Bresnan past the keeper as well, but the rest of his 35 fours were pukkah and executed with an economy of movement that was breathtaking at best.

When drinks were taken yesterday afternoon, Kallis drank and wiped away sweat with a towel. Amla took off his armguard, had no drink, and did nothing more than say a few words to Kallis and the 12th man, the left-arm reserve spinner Robin Peterson. If only Peterson had played, it could have been Pietersen c Petersen b Peterson.

It is the state of mind that another devout Muslim batsman often attained: Mohammad Yousuf. The highest third-wicket stand against England before yesterday was made by Yousuf, after he had converted from Christianity, and Younis Khan at Headingley in 2006.

It is significant that although Amla is becoming a senior figure at 29, he still goes under the helmet at forward short-leg, his own man, rather than joining the slips. He is compact in technique and mindset since curtailing his backlift, and has not let his serenity be disturbed by joining the Indian Premier League.

While Amla maintained a fairly even tempo, Kallis added only 12 runs in the first hour, to reach 94, and cautiously felt for his hundred, before taking the attack to England. In his case, the IPL has been beneficial, loosening him up, saving him from constipation. His hundred took 227 balls, too slow for a great batsman going in when his team were on top; but Kallis's strike-rate was 55 by the end, not far short of Amla's.

Like Yousuf after one of his big innings, Amla did not take the field after batting, so he did not have a close look at the fruits of his labours, ie England's collapse, until he returned for the final hour. But after his partnerships with Smith and Kallis, the pitch and England were showing signs of wear and tear.

At least Andrew Strauss, having broken his spectacles when throwing the ball on Saturday, broke his duck first ball and avoided spectacles.

Otherwise England's specialist batting did little more than succumb.

England well know the crushing, humiliating effect of being made to look utterly impotent in the field, as they did it to Australia at Brisbane on the last Ashes tour. And nobody did Amla crush more than Graeme Swann, who recorded his worst figures in a Test innings on a ground that had been his favourite and on a pitch designed for him to be England's match-winner.

The second Test will be at Headingley, where Swann has yet to take a Test wicket.