HASHIM AMLA took his career to a significant new level when he made his maiden Test match double century and went on to a career first-class best as well on the second day of the first Test against India at Nagpur on Sunday.

The Proteas’ No. 3 might have made that double century at Chennai two years ago when he was unfortunate to be run out on 159 or at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium the year before when the declaration came at his previous highest score of 176. But the fact that he had to wait a bit longer may have been appropriate because this time he has had to bat under far more testing conditions on a pitch that has favoured spin bowlers throughout and after also having to re-build the first innings from a perilous 6/2.

By the time he had finished with an unbeaten 253 when Graeme Smith applied the declaration the Proteas had their highest ever Test total in India of 558/6 on the board and the pressure is now squarely on the Indians to come out of this contest in good shape.

They made a promising enough start with 24/0 on the board off four overs by the close but the hard work still lies ahead of them.

It was easy to forget the contribution Jacques Kallis had made in taking his score to 173 (351 balls, 15 fours and 2 sixes) before falling to one of the many deliveries that would start to nip unpredictably such was the domination of Amla on day two.

When Kallis was dismissed the pair had put together South Africa’s third best third wicket stand of 340 and the best for any wicket against India. The double century continues to elude South Africa’s best player but he is nevertheless proud to lead a batting unit that is as strong as any in the world at the moment.

“Hashim got written off by a lot of people at the start of his career,” commented Kallis, “but he has proven them all wrong. That sums up the character of the man that he is. He has become a very important part of our top order and he is going to make many more runs for South Africa.”

Amla himself paid tribute to the grand master of South African modern batsmanship. “There is no better place to learn from a batting master class than to have the box office seat at the other end of the pitch,” he said of Kallis’ innings.

Of his own innings he commented: “I enjoyed reaching an important milestone but it is more important to put the side in a strong position. I will be even happier if we can pick up some quick wickets in the morning. It was a challenge to bat through a whole day’s play and there were some testing moments against the spinners and again when the seamers got the ball to reverse.”

One of the highlights for any connoisseur of Test match cricket was to watch the different techniques that the various batsmen employed against the spinners. Both Kallis and Amla took advantage of the slow pitch to spend a lot of time on the back foot although the latter came down the wicket to reach his double century with a beautiful cover drive off Virender Sehwag.

AB de Villiers by contrasts advanced metres down the pitch even to defend and he and Amla produced the most attractive batting of the day in a fourth wicket stand of 108 in 29 overs. But even such natural hitters as De Villiers and Mark Boucher perished when they attempted to force the pace.

Perhaps the most important statistic for the Proteas and an indication of how their batting has developed was that Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra bowled 99 overs between them and took 2/306.

It was a day of records both for Amla and the Proteas.

His innings of 253 not out was South Africa’s highest on the sub-continent, beating Graeme Smith’s 232 against Bangladesh.

It was also the highest against India beating the 217 not out of AB de Villiers two years ago.

It was the highest by a South African No. 3 batsman, beating Jacques Rudolph’s 222 not out against Bangladesh.

It was the seventh highest score for South Africa in Test cricket and only 24 runs short of Smith’s national record.

He was the 14^th South African to score a Test double century and the eighth since unity.

It was the 22^nd double century scored for South Africa and the 14^th since unity.

The South African total was South Africa’s highest in India beating the 540 they made at Chennai two years ago.

South Africa’s highest team total against India is 563 at the OUTsurance Oval in Bloemfontein in 2001.

In the words of Smith: “Kallis led the team performance on day one and Amla on day two. It is now up to the bowlers to lead us on day three.”