The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver

Mr Hashim Mohammed Amla Awarded for:

His excellent contribution to the sport of cricket. He has brought pride to our country with his many batting firsts in the international cricket arena and remains one of the leading batsmen of our time.

Profile of Mr Hashim Mohammed Amla

Mr Hashim Mohammed Amla was born in Durban South Africa in 1983. He is a renowned South African cricket player with numerous achievements as a batsman and sometimes he also does bowling. He holds a number of records and one of his best records is reaching the fastest first 20 centuries in One Day International (ODI) matches. In 2013, he was named as one of the ‘Wisden Cricketers of the Year’, which is bestowed to cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, based primarily on their influence on the previous English season.

Amla is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of the modern-era. He was South Africa’s Test captain from June 2014 to January 2016. Since 29 May 2017, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has ranked him as the world’s number nine batsman in Tests and the world’s number 10 in ODIs. In 2013, Amla became the first batsman since Ricky Ponting to head both the Test and ODI rankings at the same time in the latest ICC charts.

In January 2011, Amla became the fastest cricketer to reach 2 000 runs in ODIs, in his 40th ODI innings. He became the first South African to score a Test match triple century when he scored 311 not out against England in 2012. In the 57th innings of his ODI career, Amla became the fastest batsman to score 3 000 ODI runs, requiring 12 innings fewer than Sir Vivian Richards, and also became the fastest cricketer to reach 10 ODI centuries. On 8 December 2013, he became the fastest batsman to score 4 000 ODI runs, requiring eight innings fewer than Richards.

In 2014, he became the fastest cricketer to reach 15 centuries in ODIs in his 86th innings. In the same year, he became the fastest cricketer to reach 16 centuries in ODIs in his 94th inning and fastest cricketer to 17 centuries in ODIs in his 98th innings. He scored five hundreds in ODIs in 2014. On 16 January 2015, against West Indies, he became the fastest to reach 5 000 runs in ODIs in his 101st innings. On 18 January 2015, he became the fastest cricketer to 18 centuries in ODIs in his 102nd inning. On 3 March 2015, he became the fastest cricketer to reach 20 centuries in ODIs in his 108th inning.

He has scored ODI centuries against all Test playing countries and only the fourth person to do so. He recently hit two centuries in 2017 Indian Premier League season playing for Kings XI Punjab. He became the fastest player to score 7 000 runs in ODIs – 11 innings quicker than Virat Kohli. On 3 June 2017, he became the fastest cricketer to 25 ODI centuries, again 11 innings quicker than Kohli.