Ace South African batter Hashim Amla has said goodbye to all forms of cricket after he confirmed to England County team Surrey that he will not be returning for the next county championship season, after helping them win the trophy last season.
The 39-year-old had already retired from international cricket after the World Cup in 2019.
In the course of a two-decade career, Amla, 39, scored 34,104 runs across all professional formats - 9,282 of which came in his 124 Test appearances between 2004 and 2019, second only to Jacques Kallis for his country. This included 28 hundreds and a best of 311 not out against England at the Kia Oval in 2012, which was also South Africa's first triple-century in Tests.
Amla was prolific in shorter formats of the game as well, scoring 8113 runs including 27 hundreds in 181 ODIs, and 1,277 runs in 44 T20Is.
He has since retired, embarked on a coaching career, with a stint as MI Cape Town's batting coach in the ongoing SA20.
MI Cape Town appoint Simon Katich as head coach, Hashim Amla as batting coach for CSA T20 league
His former South Africa teammates AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn took to Twitter to pay rich tributes to Amla.
Steyn wrote: “He probably won’t see this tweet but I just wana tell you all, @amlahash is more than a cricketer, he is genuinely one of the best humans ever. The mighty # we salute you! Well done my friend”
Meanwhile, De Villiers saluted Amla and in a series of tweets expressed his wish to bat with him once more.
He tweeted: “Hashim Amla.. where do I start?! Not easy. Might take me a few days, weeks, months, years. I can literally write a book about you. Humaam, thank you for always being there for me. You’ve always been a brother who made me feel safe in so many ways. Your journey wasn’t easy. “The guy with the weird technique”. “He’ll never last”. “He’ll never be consistent”.
“But then, in your own very unique way, you just walked out there, time and time again and just batted, like only you can. Calm, composed, consistent, gutsy, skilful and humble, always for the team, for your country. You inspired me in a way I can’t explain. So, today, I salute you my friend. You served the game to perfection! We can all learn from that. I did I wish I could bat with you one more time,” De Villiers tweeted.
