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Cape Town - When Dean Elgar addressed media at the end of the second day's play at Newlands - after Ben Stokes had smashed England to 629/6 - he was asked what the message from captain Hashim Amla had been at the change of innings.
"Hash doesn't say much to us as a batting unit ... he allows us to play and implement our gameplans, which is a massive feather in his cap," was Elgar's response.
It is safe to say that Amla was never going to be the type of captain to bark orders and dish out any hairdryer treatment.
There were some critics who suggested throughout Amla's tenure that his peaceful demeanor did not lend itself to captaining the Proteas.
The man who came before him, Graeme Smith, was a vocal and animated leader ... characteristics that have never been a part of the Amla fabric.
But when asked to comment on his leadership style during his tenure as captain, Amla was quick to point to two previous Test captains who he felt he could relate to.
"In the world you’ve got great leaders who were never loud-mouthed or shouted or swore, in South African cricket if I remember correctly … one of the guys who was very inspirational was Hansie Cronje," said Amla.
"And even though things followed afterwards, I think a lot of guys who played under him were very inspired by the way he captained.
"Shaun Pollock as well … they were not loud characters. They inspired in different ways and the team kind of liked that.
"There are many ways to skin a cat, so whoever takes over the captaincy I’m sure that whatever style they bring I will support 100%. There are many winning formulas to a team’s success."
Amla added that he had never felt under pressure to be a certain type of captain.
"In my cricket I’ve always felt since I started that if you try and copy anybody you will never be a success," said Amla soon after announcing his resignation.
"You’ve got to be original, you’ve got to be as natural as you can be. For anybody who thinks that there is only one style of leadership, that’s pretty narrow-minded actually."
