Cape Town - Hashim Amla will bring a winning mentality to MI Cape Town this season after claiming the English County Championship Division 1 title with Surrey CC on Thursday.
Amla played a leading role in the Oval-based county’s 21st Championship title with 674 runs, including two centuries, at an average of 42.12.
The 39-year-old, though, will be swapping his willow for his coaching hat after signing up as the MI Cape Town batting coach alongside head coach Simon Katich.
Amla expressed that he was “thrilled” to start this new chapter with MI Cape Town last week and was hoping to bring “my experience as a player and mentor” and that he was “excited to help MI Cape Town players bring the best out of themselves and also make SA cricket stronger.”
The Mighty# @amlahash winning English County Championships with @surreycricket at 39 years of age! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/Vx5UQMzA54
The Proteas legend’s expertise will certainly help guide South Africa’s latest batting prodigy Dewald Brevis. The teenage sensation was snapped prior to this week’s inaugural SA20 auction with the Mumbai Indians global franchise holding Brevis in high esteem.
Brevis is currently playing in the Caribbean Premier League where he recently went bang bang in as he hit five sixes of his last five balls in a six-ball innings for St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots against Trinbago Knight Riders.
Amla will also work with current Proteas Test batter Ryan Rickelton and another promising young talent Grant Roelofson - who are both still only 26 years old.
Amla’s previous experience as a batting consultant was in the Pakistan Super League with the Peshawar Zalmi where he played a poignant role in young England batter Tom Banton’s development.
Have a good night, Surrey fans.
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 22, 2022
2022 has been a real squad effort, up the Rey 🤎#SurreyCricket pic.twitter.com/VnVVFmgmwc
Banton said: “In Pakistan we had Hashim Amla as our batting consultant and he sat me down after a low few scores and said 'it's not all about cricket, there's a lot more to life than a first-baller' - and I got some of those.
"It was really nice to work with Hash and see how he goes about it. It made me take a step back and realise just to enjoy it as this opportunity may never happen again, so try to enjoy it as much as I can."
MI Cape Town will be hoping Amla has a similar impact on the likes of Brevis, Rickleton and Roelofson next January when the SA20 League gets underway.
@ZaahierAdams