5 positives South Africa will take home from the England Test series 

#2. Hashim Amla back in his old form

Amla had a rough year recently but looks to be galloping back to form

From February 2016 to June 2017, Hashim Amla scored only one Test hundred and in eight innings in this Test series failed to score a single century. That makes 14 innings without a Test hundred.

Also, Amla averaged just above 40 in the Test series, a lot lower than what was expected from him as the leader of South Africa's batting unit. But when he returns home, these stats won't matter. What will matter is the fact that on at least two occasions in this series, the South African batsman looked like his previous self.

The old Amla, who was serenely composed, had full control of the situation and was painting strokes at will in all parts of the ground was back in action and this is what will matter to South Africa more than the stats.

In the second Test, Amla produced two masterpieces of 78 and 87 which laid the foundation of South Africa's only win in the series. These fifties came against a red hot English bowling artillery which had plenty of weapons and skills.

The best of his knocks arrived in the fourth innings of the fourth Test when the Proteas had to chase a mountain of runs to comeback in the series. The right-hand batsman batted for more than three hours with hints of his old self looking evident and kept England on the back-foot with his composed batting.

But he made the decisive error when he was on 83 and allowed England to wrap up the series and also ensured he finished the series without any hundred.