South Africa v Australia, 2018: 1st Test, Day 4 – Statistical Highlights

Aiden Markram produced tremors in the Australian camp with a gusty inning in a huge 417-run chase before his dismissal triggered a South Africa collapse. The hosts were reduced to 49/4 before Markram put on 87 with Theunis de Bruyn and a 147-run stand for the 6th wicket with Quinton de Kock. Mitchell Starc bagged three wickets in the same over after Markram’s innings came to an end on 143. De Kock remained unbeaten on 81 at the end of the 4th day as the hosts need another 124 runs to a win with only one wicket in hand.

All the stats and numbers recorded during the day with a South African fight-back:

7 – Number of catches for Tim Paine in this Test; the joint-most by him as a wicketkeeper in a Test match. He took seven catches in the two of his last three Test matches – against England in the Ashes at Sydney and Perth.

9/225 – Keshav Maharaj became only the 2nd South African spinner to take 9-wicket match haul in the last 61 years in a home Test match. Paul Harris recorded figures of 9/161 also against Australia in the 2009 Cape Town Test.

10 – Number of wickets shared by the South African spinners in this Test match. This is the first time in 61 years that the South African spinners bagged ten wickets in a home Test match.

19 – Number of wickets for the left-arm bowlers in this Test match so far. These are the most in a Test match in South Africa in 115 years. Keshav Maharaj and Mitchell Starc took nine wickets each while Dean Elgar took a wicket.

29 – AB de Villiers got run out on 29 occasions in the International cricket. These are the most number of run out dismissals for a South African going past Jacques Kallis’ 28 run outs. Both the players had 28 and 27 run outs respectively while playing for South Africa in Internationals.

143 – Aiden Markram’s 143-run innings is the 3rd highest individual score by a South African in the 4th innings of a Test match and the highest in a home Test. Bruce Mitchell (189*) and Graeme Smith (154*) scored in 1947 and 2008 respectively on the England soil. The previous highest individual score in the 4th innings by a South African in South Africa was Faf du Plessis’ 134 in the 2013 Johannesburg Test against India.

147 – The 147-run partnership between Markram and Quinton de Kock is South Africa’s highest partnership for 6th and lower wicket in the 4th innings. The previous highest was 127 between DJ Cullinan and Lance Klusener against India for the 8th wicket in the 1997 Johannesburg Test.