Oval, July 23: The biggest cheer from England supporters here yesterday arrived shortly after tea; Bradley Wiggins, it was announced, had won the Tour de France. The only other rousing shout marked Jimmy Anderson beating the outside edge of Hashim Amla's bat. The celebration was soaked in irony and was followed by sarcastic applause.
Only Don Bradman and Brian Lara have scored more runs against England in a single innings than Amla's unbeaten 311 here, making him the first South African to score a Test triple hundred.
Amla claims that he eats like a rabbit but, unfortunately from the perspective of England's bowlers, he does not bat like one. The only surprise is that this devout Muslim is eating at all, for it is Ramadan and in the past not even Test cricket has been allowed to interrupt the vigilance of his religious observance. Here, though, he has put fasting on hold.
"Because I'm travelling away from home I don't have to fast," he said. "So I haven't been fasting. But I will make it up when I get home."
Amla batted for just over 13 hours, which was most unlucky for England. Strangely he had been dominated by both his partners, by Graeme Smith on Saturday and on Sunday by Jacques Kallis, players of physical bulk and mountainous records who towered above him like twin pillars.
Ultimately, though, Amla shuffled centre stage. A dapper, back-foot stylist, who plays with wristy precision and deft timing, he is much better to watch than either Smith or Kallis and by the end of his day his monumental achievement had dwarfed them both.
One day his score will be beaten but no one will ever deprive him of his record of becoming the first South African to get this far. Neither Smith nor Kallis has managed that, not Barry Richards or Graeme Pollock or Herbie Taylor, the great batsman of an earlier era.
England may have set a one-day field for Amla but he batted timelessly in the direction of posterity and feted glory. The first South African of Indian descent to make the team might one day be described as the most famous bearded cricketer since WG Grace.
"I'm happy, surprised, really excited that I managed to do something that has never been done before as a South African," Amla added. "With my scoring rate 300 is usually a very long way away, so it didn't cross my mind until I'd got to 250. I'm overwhelmed. It's a lovely feeling.
"But the biggest joy is the team being in a dominating position to win this Test match. We had a team goal of what we wanted to have scored by tea."
His association with Kallis is becoming one of the great partnerships of Test cricket. Ten times they have added a hundred together and on six of those occasions they have put on two hundred, while this was their third treble-hundred alliance.
The pair added only 36 runs in the first hour and the drinks they had then must have been of the high-energy variety for in the next hour they put on 75 and after lunch they accelerated again, even Kallis, who has often struggled with his gears, as if driving a pre-synchromesh car.
When Kallis reached his century he touched his right eye in memory of his injured good friend Mark Boucher (actually, it should have been his left). At the end of South Africa's innings, however, thoughts were only of Amla.
England's batting coach, Graham Gooch, the last man to score a triple hundred in this country, 22 years ago, said: "It was a wonderful effort. You need a great attitude, good technique, good knowledge and above all spot-on concentration. He showed all four things today."
He scarcely needed to add: "It's not going our way."
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