Thirsty work
It’s no secret that Hashim Amla is a Muslim.
He has always refused to wear sponsors apparel if alcohol is involved, as the picture on the left depicts. (Note Jacques Kallis with the Castle brewery logo on his shirt.) Good for him, I’ve always admired a man of principles.
But this month is Ramadan!
Hashin Amla is according to Muslim tradition exempt from having to fast because he’s ‘traveling.’ Fair enough. But did you know that he spent his entire time collecting that mammoth 311 runs this past weekend, which took a whopping 790 minutes without publicly ingesting anything!
That’s right! While Graeme and Jacques were calling for water out on the field (or whatever other power drink they ingest these days) Hashim Amla declined.
I had the utmost admiration for his acceptance speech of the man of the match award, where he deflected attention away from himself and praised his batting colleagues but 13 hours on the field without calling for a drink that’s RESPECT in capitals.
Well done young man.
I can’t find a reasonable link to the story so scanned the article from my local daily.
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Very accomplished, but I am sure he did not need too much energy to deal with the feeble England attack. They were pathetic.
Well you may admire his adherence to odd rules, Soutie, but to dehydrate oneself for so long does no favours at all to the body. And since he was offered the chance to drink water, he would have been well advised to take it. Obviously Allah was not a physician.
Water gives you cramps, anyway. The England boys must have been drinking litres of the stuff.
Forgot to say on the other post. Well done South Africa. Looking forward to round two.
HI Soutie,
It’s a bit unclear but he says he is not fasting and that’s fine, there are exemptions, but is it possible he drank some water when he was not in the public eye?
All respect to Amla, who, according to the Barmy Army, ‘has his head on upside down’. It was a great performance. I do have a niggling little question at the back of my mind, however. Given that SAB sponsors the Proteas, presumably some of Amla’s income is derived from the sale of alcohol. How does this sit with his very high standards?
Morning FEEG, they did seem a bit limp at times but take nothing away from the batsmen, Smith, Amla & Kallis were awesome and on that wicket would have done the same to most bowling attacks.
Morning Sheona and neither am I, the South African ‘backroom staff’ however will be full of them, I’m quite sure that the team doctor(s) would have monitored him at every opportunity.
Ha ha TR, great excuse ‘must be something in the water’
Hello Ara, undoubtedly, cricket is only 2 hour sessions (with a 4/5 minute break in the middle) there would have been ample opportunity for Hashim to rehydrate. The article clearly tells us that he didn’t drink (or eat for that matter) ‘in public during the match’
Howzit Sipu, you still touring the wetlands of Northern Europe?
They could always donate a small sum to charity (which I’m sure they do) if their consciences are clouded. Bit like suggesting that Muslims shouldn’t attend state schools or hospitals because they are partly funded by alcohol taxes.
There was an interesting discussion on Radio 2000 during the lunch break of one of the recent home test matches (Oz or SL) with the marketing director of SAB Miller.
He was asked if the non-display of the logo by South African cricketers was a problem, not at all he replied, he was then asked what if there were 5,6,7 or 8 of them, he told us that under those circumstances that they would have “to rethink our position”
To be honest, the non-wearing of the logo probably creates more discussion and awareness of Castle then if the players simply wore it, so at the moment I’m convinced that it’s a win win.
He does look as if his head is on upside-down, says Backside.
Me, I don’t give a flying fig what ridiculous brand of organised superstition the man follows – that was a class innings and I’m sure he kept himself properly hydrated the whole way through.
Soutie it has been gorgeous in London for the past few days. However, I am writing this from Geneva airport, en route to Nice and Mougins for a few days. I imagine the weather will be quite pleasant there as well, though I have not checked!
Some time ago I watched a documentary about the police tracking car thieves. In one instance the thieves abandoned the car and ran off. The police gave chase, except for one who was muslim – this was during ramadan – and had not eaten or drunk all day. He collapsed after a few yards, unable to do the job he was being paid for.