Hashim Amla - greatest ever?

There is an interesting post on the SA Cricket Blog where Shaun asks whether or not Hashim Amla is the best batsman ever produced... sorry let me correct that...

... his headline says: "Hashim Amla, the greatest batsman that South Africa has produced" and then in the post he writes: "I’m of the opinion that Hashim Amla will become the highest scoring Test batsman that South Africa has ever produced."

There's an important distinction that needs to be made there because highest scoring versus greatest are two very different categories.

"Greatest" batsman ever will always be a contentious issue. You will always remember the positives about the batsman you watch and the guy you remember scoring the winning runs / digging you out of trouble when the chips were down. One generation for instance will always remember the Pollocks of the world.

Me, I think that the Gary Kirsten and Graeme Smith are the two greatest batters SA has produced. Others like Amla while others say that AB De Villiers will still go on to be the greatest. At the moment Amla's record speaks for itself.

At the moment De Villiers, Amla and even Smith to some extent live in the shadow of Jacques Kallis. Have a look at the great mans record below and you will see what I mean! 21000+ runs for South Africa - a true servant of the game.

I dunno - I think it would be an interesting debate. Who is the best and what have they done to get there?

Here is some food for thought in terms of stats for Amla, Smith, Kallis and Kirsten:

Hashim Amla
Age: 26
Test runs: 3261
Average: 47.26
ODI runs: 848
Average: 47.11

Graeme Smith
Age: 29
Test runs: 6799
Average: 49
ODI runs: 5613
Average: 40.47

Jacques Kallis
Age: 34
Test runs: 10843
Average: 54.76
ODI runs: 10498
Average: 45.44

Gary Kirsten
Age: No longer playing
Test runs: 7239
Average: 45.27
ODI runs: 6798
Average: 40.95

They're all awesome cricketers that's for sure.