South Africa v Australia, 2018: 1st Test, Day 2 – Statistical Highlights

The Durban Test moved quickly on the 2nd day after some brilliant bowling performances from the Aussie bowlers who utilized the reverse swing. On a day that saw the fall of as many as 15 wickets, the home team were bundled out for just 162 with AB de Villiers stranded on 71. Mitchell Starc’s 5-fer cleaned up South Africa’s last five wickets for 12 runs. Earlier, Australia were bowled out for 351 in their first innings with Mitchell Marsh scoring 96 playing with the tail-enders.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the day that witnessed a feast of wickets fall:

2 – Only the 2nd time AB de Villiers remained unbeaten in a Test innings when South Africa were bowled out. He scored an unbeaten 104 when his team were bowled out for 220 in the first innings of the 2009 Johannesburg Test against the Aussies. Overall, this was only the 17th time ABD was unbeaten in a Test innings with the last time been in the 2013 Johannesburg Test against Pakistan.

4 – Number of ducks for Hashim Amla in Test cricket at the Kingsmead in Durban. These are the most number of Test ducks for a specialist batsman at a South African venue or for South Africa at a venue.

Among the lower order players, Makhaya Ntini bagged five ducks while Morne Morkel bagged four including this game in Durban. Allan Donald, Ryan McClean and New Zealand’s Chris Martin have four ducks each at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

5/34 – Mitchell Starc’s 5-wicket haul in this game is his cheapest of his nine 5-wicket hauls. This is also the cheapest 5-fer by an Aussie pacer outside the home since Shane Watson’s 5/17 also against Saffers in the 2011 Cape Town Test.

5/123 – Keshav Maharaj became the first South African spinner in 60 years to take a 5-wicket haul in the first innings of a home Test match. The last such 5-fer was by Hugh Tayfield in the 1957/58 Cape Town Test also against Australia.

8 – Number of wickets for the spinners in the first two innings of this Test match. These are the joint most number of wickets to the spinners in the first two innings of a Test in South Africa. The SA-AUS Port Elizabeth Test also had eight wickets for spinners in the first two innings. The eight wickets are the joint most in first two innings of a Durban Test since South Africa’s readmission to the sport.

1936 – South Africa’s last three innings in Test cricket are 162/10, 194/10 and 177/10. This was the first time Saffers were bowled out under 200 in three consecutive Test innings at home since 1936. The Proteas were bundled out under 200 in five consecutive innings by the Aussies in the 1936 series.