England sense the chance to turn from hunted to hunter, with South African captain Hashim Amla their prey

Series against South Africa are generally known for one thing: the resignation of an England captain.

Three times in less than a decade South Africa finished off a long standing England skipper starting with Nasser Hussain in 2003, then Michael Vaughan in 2008 before ending with Andrew Strauss four years later.

But perhaps finally it is England’s chance to turn from hunted to hunter with Hashim Amla their prey.

Yes it is too early to write him off as captain just yet. The series is barely two days old, Kingsmead is his bogey ground with an average here of only 19 and this match is likely to be decided by a whisker.

But already England have played on his current vulnerability as Amla cuts a rather different figure from the one who has dominated England with the bat for so long averaging 59 in their last three series.
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Even the official programme produced for the Basil D’Oliveira trophy by Cricket South Africa admitted the problems their leader faces saying he “came up short” in his first “significant challenge as captain” in India recently. It was unusual honesty from an in-house magazine and one that would not have made it past the England & Wales Cricket Board censors.
Amla is not only to leading a team in transition but also having to prove his heart is really in it. He stepped down as vice captain of the limited overs team in 2013 to concentrate on batting and it was a surprise when he announced he wanted to replace Graeme Smith a year later as Test captain.
He was appointed ahead of Ab De Villiers for fear of over burdening their brilliant wicket-keeper, batsman and allround superhero but the impact on Amla’s batting has been obvious as soon as South Africa faced decent opposition.
He averaged 16.85 in India; his worst in a series of more than two Tests for eight years. In his one first-class match for Cape Cobras since the India tour he scored 10 and 23 and was out in both innings edging behind the wicket, a handy little sign for England here.
They probed his outside edge with wonderful precision as Chris Woakes did his best James Anderson impersonation with the new ball while Stuart Broad never veered from the imaginary fourth stump outside off. Amla left his first two balls, pushed at his third and nearly edged his fourth. Three balls later a huge appeal off Broad could have been given out on another day.