Who was that man in the middle on the third day of the second Test between SA and England at Newlands yesterday, and what has he done with the Hashim Amla whose compatriots have come to know and worry about these past few months? With grenades calling for the end of his tenure as SA's captain - so to save his batting career - exploding all around him, Amla fought back with a defiant 157 not out."To get a big score like he did, we as a team are extremely proud of him," Faf du Plessis said. "He's put in a lot of hard work in the nets, and his innings is a huge step in the right direction."This was not the Amla of India last year, when he averaged 16.85 in seven innings. Or even of the first Test of this series at Kingsmead, where he fretted for more than half-an-hour for each of his efforts of seven and 12.He was the Amla of Nagpur in 2010, when he made an undefeated 253, of the Oval in 2012, when he racked up 311 not out, and of Centurion in 2014, when he took 208 off West Indies.Amla anchored SA's 353/3, which means they will resume today 276 runs in arrears of England's first innings of 629/6 declared.There is, then, plenty for South Africans to feel relieved about in yesterday's wake. But, as yet, they do not have reasons to be cheerful."We won't sit here and say everything has changed and that we are on top of the wave again. We know there's a lot of work still to be done. The only way we are going to quiet the critics is to be consistent," Du Plessis added.As magnificent as Amla was yesterday, he is still under pressure as SA's captain. If his side lose this match, that will be the case regardless of how many runs he scores.The stand of 183 Amla shared with an equally disciplined AB de Villiers, who made 88, and the unbroken partnership of 85 between Amla and Du Plessis, whose grit earned him an unbeaten 51, will have brought hopeful sighs that the end of SA's slide, which now stands at four defeats in five Tests, could be close...