‘Cricket is about skills, it’s not war’ – Hashim Amla

The ball-tampering controversy that has engulfed Australian cricket has overshadowed a keenly fought Test series in South Africa. But a buffer period of a couple of days had allowed the hosts to put aside the immediate shock and surprise, “so finally when we’re at the next Test venue, it’s all about the cricket”, said Hashim Amla.

South Africa are leading the four-Test series 2-1 going into the final Test in Johannesburg starting Friday 30 March. At the start of the series, the motivation had been to win their first series at home against Australia since readmission, and that stood, said Amla.

Yet, the South Africans weren’t losing perspective, and they were sympathetic to the problems of their opposition. There would be no “holier than thou attitude” from their side. “We know how hard cricket is," said Amla. "International sport is tough. So when things like this happen, we do feel sympathetic to a person who has made a mistake and has to pay a price for it.”

Everybody made mistakes; it was learning from them that was important, he explained, adding that the incident offered a “reality check” for all teams to think about the kind of cricket they wanted to play.

For Amla, it was all about respect. "I don't say much. I try to afford as much respect as possible. I don't try and demean anybody,” said the batsman. “For me, it is a skills-based sport and I try and support my teammates as much as possible.

“What's happening in their camp, I don't want to comment too much. They have their issues to deal with. It’s only the way we play our cricket (that) is important to us.”

Dismissing a ‘win at all costs attitude”, he said: “It's not war. It's ridiculous to think that playing cricket is like war because, if you know the realities of war, you can't equate the two. Yes it's a tough battle of skill, but you've got to have respect for each other.

“It’s what sport does, it unites everybody.”