HASHIM Amla has carried many tags: South African, Indian, Muslim, that bearded bloke, others more inflammatory.
But the latest thrown at one of cricket’s mystery men is probably the most appropriate.
World’s best batsman.
The man Australia must tame in this month’s three-Test series to wrest back the world No.1 spot is a reluctant hero.
Amla is far more comfortable surfing the KwaZulu-Natal shorebreaks than carrying expectations of a complex society.
Shy and self-deprecating, those who know him say he struggles with the symbolism of his sudden global fame.
They say he’d prefer his three passions — cricket, his faith and surfing — never to intersect. But in his lofty position, he’s learning that’s impossible.
It’s been a long trek for a skinny boy from Tongaat, a small sugar cane town 40km north of Durban formed after World War II, largely on the basis of Indian migration.
His parents are South African-born, but his grandparents were indentured workers from Surat — and the family still occasionally speaks Gujarati from that western Indian region.
Amla, whose older brother Ahmed is also a first-class cricketer, grew up playing in all-Asian teams until age 13. He was earmarked for higher honours once he reached Durban High School, a renowned cricket school, blazing through schoolboy ranks to be South African captain at the under-19 World Cup in 2002.
But as his stature grew, so did the chorus of doubters.
Too wristy. Crooked backlift. Lunges forward. The list of criticisms of his unique style knew no bounds.
But even when the numbers weren’t pretty in his first handful of Tests, Amla stayed true to his style.
When he broke through in 2006 for his first Test century, the world got the first glimpse of the warrior within.
“I spoke to several top coaches and they all told me to keep it as natural as possible,” he said after the 149 against New Zealand in Johannesburg.
“I hope it will be a long Test career and maybe if I can score 50 centuries, no one will question my technique.”
It appeared almost a throwaway line — but there’s not one opponent smirking now.Amla peeled off 1161 Test runs — including three centuries — in 2008.
He exploded in 2010 with 1249 runs and another five tons, including an unbeaten 253 in Nagpur on a deck sufficiently treacherous that the Indians suffered a rare innings loss on home soil.
He already has 687 runs this year at an average of 76.33.
Mickey Arthur, who oversaw Amla’s coming of age as South African coach, has changed camp but not his admiration for Amla’s game.
The Australian coach said Amla’s “tentative” ways as youngster were long gone.
“When I first saw ‘Hash’ as a young boy, he was shy, but you could see he was determined and also a diligent worker,” Arthur said this week.
“(But) the thing with him was he always seemed to have time to play the ball, even when he wasn’t able to hit it like he does now.
“I think what has happened is that he’s realised now he belongs at this level. He hasn’t made massive technical changes, he’s just confident in his own ability now.
“I would say he’s bringing the bat down marginally straighter than he used to, but more it’s just an inner belief he’s one of the best.”
Amla became the first South African to score a Test triple century when he torched England for an unbeaten 311 at The Oval in July, surging to second in the Test batting rankings.
In the 57th innings of his one-day international career, Amla became the fastest batsman to 3000 runs — a staggering 12 innings fewer than “Master Blaster” Viv Richards took.
Amla hits the ball to parts of the ground many batsmen can’t reach.
Remarkably, of the 482 runs he scored in the England series, only 41 came in the arc between mid-off and mid-on, highlighting Amla’s amazing ability to inflict damage square of the wicket, particularly on the off side.
“That is an incredible stat,” Arthur said. “He hits in all different areas of the ground, with more power than people realise.
“He is now a very good player in all three forms of the game because he’s really developed his shot-making. He has a way of opening the face of his bat and still hitting with power and control.
“It’s quite an Asian (sub-continental) way of playing, really — very wristy.”
“That means he can hit the ball in different areas from where a ball might normally be hit.”
International teams long ago realised Amla was deadly off his pads and have, by and large, tried to push the ball wide of his off stump.
Arthur insisted Australia wouldn’t fall into that trap.
“What he’s done is developed an ability to hit the ball in his own way through cover point,” he said.
“Most players tend to hit their drives straighter or make finer deflections, but he really hits the ball with precision because of his wristy style from extra cover right around to backward point.
“He’s a special talent. The wider and wider they get, he just hits it better, it seems.”
Which leaves one clear avenue of attack.
“We’ll come hard at him,” Arthur said. “We’re going to bowl a bit shorter at him because I think it’s the one little area where there’s still a question mark with him.
“We won’t go over the top, but I think you can expect to see us really challenge him. Put it this way, we won’t be giving him any width.”
But perhaps even more impressive than Amla’s form is the esteem in which he’s held, not only by the Proteas, but around South Africa.
Former Proteas Twenty20 and one-day skipper Johan Botha said Amla had become “the glue” in the star-studded batting line-up, but gave even higher off-field praise.
“He’s probably the most humble cricketer I’ve ever played with,” Botha said this week. “He’s a great guy for the team to have around.
“And there are a lot of different races and cultures in our country and Hash has been great to bring a lot of people together in South Africa.”
Arthur agreed: “I can only heap big praise on him. He’s a first-class human being and just a fantastic bloke. He’s very controlled, very measured in all aspects of his life, including cricket and he’s just a very balanced human being.
“The thing about Hash is that when you see him around the changerooms after he’s batted, you honestly wouldn’t know if he’d made a duck or a big hundred.
“He clearly doesn’t have the traditional South African cricket background, but he’s as South African as anyone. differently. That’s more down to the nature of the man.”
Not bad for a bloke whose grandparents were effectively imported labour into a racially torn country 60 years earlier.
“I consider myself South African, but I am also proud of my Indian roots,” said Amla, whose religious beliefs have led him to arrange uniforms devoid of the beer sponsorship splashed across his teammates’ tops.
“I am a devout Muslim — strictly no alcohol or pork — which helps me with my cricket. It brings stability to an unstable game,” he once said.
“You want to do the country proud. If people want to see me as an Indian or a Muslim, that’s up to them and it’s fine.
“But I’m a South African trying to win a game for South Africa. But I guess I do stick out.”
Now, finally, the knockers have fallen silent and the only sticking out Amla is doing is with his flashing willow.