South Africa vs Australia, 2018: 2nd Test, Day 3 – Statistical Highlights

AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten century helped South Africa to post 382 in their first innings and take a huge 139-run lead in the Port Elizabeth Test. The 34-year-old constructed a 146-ball 126* by adding 44, 84, 58 and 13 for the final four wickets. The home team’s bowlers reduced the Aussies to 86/4 including the big wicket of Steven Smith. However, Usman Khawaja (75) and Mitchell Marsh (39*) nearly played out the final session with an 87-run stand before Rabada struck in the final moments.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the day dominated by the hosts:

5 – AB de Villiers stood as South Africa’s top scorer in the five out of ten Test innings since his comeback. This inning was also the 5th time where ABD was the lone century scorer in the South African innings.

6 – Number of centuries for AB de Villiers against Australia in Test cricket. These are the most number of tons by a South African in Tests against Australia. His six centuries are the joint 2nd most in the SA-AUS Tests.

21 – Steven Smith dismissed by a left-arm spinner for the 21st time in his Test career. In the ongoing series, the left-arm spinners Keshav Maharaj (2) and Dean Elgar (1) claimed Smith’s wicket three out of four times.

22 – This was AB de Villiers’ 22nd Test century. Only Jacques Kallis (45), Hashim Amla (28) and Graeme Smith (27) scored more centuries than ABD for South Africa in Test cricket. De Villiers went past Gary Kirsten’s 22-century tally.

24 – De Villiers’ 126* is his first hundred in 24 Test innings. His last Test ton was in the 2015 New Year Test in Cape Town against West Indies where he scored 148.

75 – Usman Khawaja’s 75 is his 2nd highest score in the 24 away Test innings. He scored 140 against New Zealand in the 2016 Wellington Test. After that hundred, Khawaja failed to score a fifty away from home in his previous 11 innings.

117 – AB de Villiers’ 117-ball century is the fastest knock Test hundred in Port Elizabeth. Lance Klusener’s 127-ball ton against England in 1999/00 was the previous fastest Test 100 at the venue.

197 – De Villiers aggregated 197 runs in this series without getting out to a bowler. He made an unbeaten 71 in the first innings of the first Test and an unbeaten 126* in the first innings of the ongoing Test. He got run out without scoring in the 2nd innings in Durban.

2012 – Only one dismissal in the first two innings of this Test involved a catch taken by a fielder which is the fewest in the first two innings of a Test in the last nine years. (Two completed innings) The 2009 Chittagong Test between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had only one catch taken by a fielder in the first two innings.