Amla substitutes style for substance

It was Hashim Amla's before he had to go and get it. The first fifty runs that is.

His path was cleared as early as the sixth over when he whipped Kevin O'Brien's first ball to short midwicket and Ed Joyce put it down. Irish eyes were stinging and with good reason. Amla takes second chances very seriously.

After being dropped from the Test side following just three appearances in the 2004-05 season, Amla marked his return 15 months later with 149. Nine years later, he is still in the side and holds the highest score.

After opting out of leadership - Amla was appointed the ODI side's second-in-command in 2011 - because he felt it wasn't for him, he accepted the Test armband three years later. On his first assignment, he took the team back to the top of the rankings by winning a series in Sri Lanka, where South Africa had not triumphed in 21 years.

So when Amla bisected the bowler and mid-on with a drive laced with finesse only Amla has off the first ball of O'Brien's over following the drop, Ireland were warned that he was planning to revel in this second chance as well.

Amla was on 10 when the chance was fluffed, and on 21 when he masterfully struck the straight drive that signaled his intent and the runs were flowing from a faucet only Amla's bat can open. He threaded a gap between short cover and cover, which is like reaching for a bottle behind another bottle, but did it with the carefulness of not breaking either. He used his wrists to drive and even when the ball did not get all the way to the boundary, it was enough to allow singles to accumulate. He brought up fifty with the urgency that Faf du Plessis injected into the partnership - by running three against legs that were only in the 17th over but were starting to become heavy.

The first third of South Africa's innings went better than it has gone all tournament and they could have eased off. The most the opposition could offer was competence, not claws. Ireland's attack, like Zimbabwe's, have to make use of skill rather than any standout qualities but unlike Zimbabwe, they had not succeeded in showing that skill upfront.

It was there for Amla to go and get. A hundred, 150 and maybe even 200 and he knew it. The Amla we knew became the Amla we may want to know a bit more of as he abandoned elegance and decided to go unorthodox instead. Well, unorthodox for him.

Amla does not slog, smack or shovel. He does not hoick. He does not even hit. The word sounds too hard for what he usually does: guides and glances, picks gaps, gently. Not today.

The first boundary Amla struck after reaching fifty was the ugly stepsister to his usual Cinderella. He took a wide stance and swung his bat the way an ogre would a club. The resultant hack could have left blood on the moon. It was vicious.

It was more vicious when Amla did it again in the next over with a better result. Another stable base, another carefree swing and another contact of wood to leather that both shattered and sunk opposition morale.

Amla and du Plessis dented the bowling enough to be able to drain it afterwards. On a field with bigger dimensions than the MCG, there was ample room to move the ball around and plenty of singles. The pair saw off just 11 dot balls between boundaries in the 24th and 31st over and sucked the energy out of Ireland.

Du Plessis quietly approached his own milestone, one that seems to have been a long time coming even though his previous two innings have brought half-centuries, perhaps because the last time he scored a century, it was his third in four innings. He'd gone through a middling period between his success in last September's triangular series and this World Cup but always said he was ready to score big runs. Today, he showed it.

Du Plessis was the Marlon Samuels to Amla's Chris Gayle and he did not mind. He was a part-time aggressor, full-time supporter who made sure his methods of scoring runs complimented rather than competed with Amla's. Only in his caution to get to three figures did he threaten to slip up when Amla, running on adrenaline, called him for a single that du Plessis decided was not on. He sent Amla back.

Amla understood the importance of his partner securing the century, and there was time enough to get him there safely, but once that was done, it was open season. Du Plessis started it with the ramp shot, an Affies (Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool) special perfected by his schoolfriend AB de Villiers. Amla continued by doing to Ireland's best bowler what de Villiers had done to West Indies' captain four days ago. He dismantled John Mooney's figures and taught him a harsh lesson in how to not to bowl to set batsman.

Don't bowl a slower ball. Don't bowl a full toss, that's just asking for trouble, but if you are going to bowl one, don't overstep. Don't give away a free hit and if you do, don't drop the extra delivery short. Don't offer width. Don't do any combination of those things together unless you want to be pulled and driven and sent into the stands.

That was Amla's over and he got all of it himself. All 26 runs. All the way to within sighting distance of 150 and a career-best. He didn't get the double but it was still Amla's innings. Some of it was given to him, but most of it, he took for himself.