Cricket World Cup: Hashim Amla takes clever catch in man of the match performance against Ireland

SOUTH Africa’s Hashim Amla claimed a world record with the bat, but he was grateful to leave Canberra with a full set of teeth.

Quick-thinking Amla’s narrow escape

SOUTH Africa’s Hashim Amla claimed a world record with the bat, but he was grateful to leave Canberra with a full set of teeth after a narrow escape fielding at first slip.

Amla’s game-high 159 in his side’s 201-run World Cup Pool B win over Ireland was his 20th one-day international hundred, reaching the milestone in a world record of 108 innings.

But it was in the field where Amla also showed his class, claiming two catches at first slip, including one where he was unsighted and lucky to emerge unharmed.

Ireland’s left-hander Niall O’Brien edged to first slip and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock lunged at the ball, obscuring Amla’s line of sight and deflecting the ball into Amla’s armpit area.

The quick-thinking Amla clutched it to his upper body and hung on, completing a spectacular dismissal on the way to winning the man-of-the-match award.

Hashim Amla’s clever catch dismissed Ireland's Niall O'Brien.

Quietly spoken Amla doesn’t get rattled very often, but he admitted the incident at slip was “frightening”.

“Yeah, it was. There’s always a danger at first slip,” Amla said on Tuesday night.

“It’s happened a couple of times where a person diving across, you kind of take your head away and you don’t know what’s going to happen, and the best possible result happened today.

“The ball got stuck in my arm somewhere. But I was just grateful it didn’t hit me in the face or teeth.

“That could have been a lot worse.”

South Africa's Hashim Amla made it to 159 off 128 balls before being caught off the bowling off Andrew McBrine.

After skipper AB de Villiers was the star of South Africa’s big win over West Indies last Friday, hitting 162 not out including a world record 150 in 64 balls, de Villiers was out for 24 against Ireland as Amla took over.

Amla’s innings included 16 fours and four sixes in a mixture of stylish technique and big hits.

The opener’s first hundred of the 2015 World Cup lifted his tally of runs to 257 at an average of 64.25, above de Villiers’ 241 but trailing West Indies’ star Chris Gayle’s 258 and Sri Lanka veteran Kumar Sangakkara’s 268.

“You’d like to score runs every game, but I don’t think that’s quite possible unless you’re Don Bradman or AB de Villiers,” Amla said.

Originally published as Cricket World Cup: Hashim Amla takes clever catch in man of the match performance against Ireland