Hashim Amla: World Cricket's Batsman of the Month, January 2015

Hashim Amla completely dominated the month of January with his bat. It was quite a month for batsmen but with 413 runs at an average of 206.50 in just four matches, nobody performed better than Amla.

All of these runs came during the series against the West Indies. It might be easy to dismiss the bowling lineup he faced as weak, but the way he has accumulated his runs has been simply extraordinary. Tillakaratne Dilshan also had a fruitful January, scoring 397 runs at an average of 66.16, but he batted in two more innings compared to Amla.

The year started with Amla scoring 63 and an unbeaten 38 in the New Year's Test at Newlands. That was followed by 66 against the Windies in Durban. Those runs came off exactly 66 balls and were valuable considering both Rilee Rossouw and Faf du Plessis made ducks in the same match. His effort at the top of the order propped up the South African middle order and helped set the platform for a decent total.

In the next match, though, Amla really got going. He carried his bat for an immense 153 off 142 balls. In that same game, AB de Villiers also hit a record-breaking ton, scoring 100 off just 31 balls. De Villiers' performance overshadowed Amla's effort slightly, but in context, it was Amla's anchor role that allowed De Villiers to go wild.

He scored an unbeaten 61 in the next match and finished the series with yet another century in the final match. It was his 19th ODI hundred. During the series, he became the quickest batsman to 5,000 ODI runs. If he continues his current form, he is very much on course to become the fastest to 6,000 ODI runs, too. Currently on 5,359 runs in 104 innings, he needs to score 641 runs in 31 innings or less in order to break Virat Kohli's current record.

It has been said before, but it’s worth mentioning again. For a player who wasn’t really considered to be a one-day player when he made his debut, Amla has very much proven otherwise.

The rate at which he scores hundreds in ODI cricket is simply extraordinary.

South Africa will be pleased as punch that one of their key players seems to have hit form just before the World Cup. Conditions in Australia are likely to be fairly similar to that in South Africa so Amla is building from a solid platform.

The great thing about Amla is that he is adaptable. Although his main role is to steady the top order and take the shine off the new ball, he can also up the ante when the ball is older and South Africa need to get loads of runs quickly. This will stand the Proteas in good stead when the crunch situations in the World Cup come around.

Runner-up: AB de Villiers

This piece would not be complete without mentioning AB de Villiers’ record-breaking antics. De Villiers is in superb form and his record-breaking hundred underscored why he is such a special player. De Villiers’ ability to adapt to a situation and completely demolish any attack that’s bowling to him is simply unmatched on the current international circuit.