Elgar wanted me out! Amla laughs off narrow escape

There was a let-off for Hashim Amla on day two of the second Test and the batsman joked that even his partner, Dean Elgar, wanted him out.

Published : Mar 10, 2018 23:01 IST

Hashim Amla joked that even batting partner Dean Elgar wanted him out when he survived a lucky escape on day two of the second Test between South Africa and Australia.

Amla and Elgar each made hard-earned fifties in Port Elizabeth, before AB de Villiers' unbeaten 74 ensured the Proteas led by 20 on 263-7 at stumps, despite an evening-session collapse.

Yet Amla came perilously close to losing his wicket on seven, when he was adjudged lbw to Pat Cummins only for the decision to be over-turned on review.

The batsman believed he had got an inside edge, yet that was not the case and he was actually saved by the fact he had been struck outside the line of off stump.

A grinning Amla, who also successfully overturned an lbw decision when he had 40 to his name, told SuperSport: "To be honest, I thought I got an inside edge on it, but then when I looked at the big screen and saw there was no inside edge, I thought ok, maybe it was out.

"Dean was convinced it was out, so thankfully I didn't listen to him!

"I joked that there were three guys who wanted me out, because both umpires gave me out today and him [Elgar], because he wanted me out.

"Thankfully I didn't listen to him and I took the review thinking I edged it, and fortunately I was outside the line, so I got away [with it]."

Amla hailed the contribution of De Villiers, who scored at a strike-rate of 91 following an afternoon session that saw only 43 runs added.

"He's a pleasure to watch," said Amla of De Villiers. "Dean and I were grinding it out and then AB comes in and makes it look easy.

"He's a quality player and it's always lovely to watch him.

"Hopefully we can get a good lead. AB's batting beautifully and Vern [Vernon Philander] is digging in there as well."

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