Hashim Amla says this Wanderers wicket is one of the hardest wickets he has batted on. 

It was a tough day for the Proteas’ specialist batsmen, who only made 27 runs between them as the pitch deviated regularly, making it a nightmare to read.

Despite this, Amla held anchor for the Proteas, marshalling the tail while scoring a solid 61.

‘It’s one of the spiciest wickets I have played on,’ said Amla on Thursday. ‘There have been a couple of wickets that were quite difficult over the past two years; in England, there were one or two. But this wicket was quite challenging to bat on.

‘You could get out any ball, but at the same token, it’s challenging as a batsman. If you ask a batsman whether it’s too excessive or not, what do you think he would say?

‘I always tell the guys it’s a bowlers game. It’s nice that we come to this wicket 2-0 up [in the series] and that helped in that respect. But there’s nothing we can do about it. We must just try our best when we are batting to score as much as we can; it’s as simple as that.

‘I was happy to get 61. Obviously, you desire to score as many as possible and you never plan to get out, but I am glad, yes.’

To handle the unpredictability of the pitch, Amla shuffled across his off stump.

‘Because the ball swung so much, I got into the channel and if it was outside, I would leave it. I knew I would take some blows into the body and the hands, but that’s part of the game.

‘The ribs are feeling good,’ he said about taking a blow. ‘The ball started reversing after that and people started looking at the ball to see if it’s still OK, but I’m fine.’