South Africa vs Australia, 2018: 4th Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

Australia took the field for the first time in more than six years without either of Steven Smith and David Warner in the playing XI. The duo received sanctions due to the ball-tampering episode in the previous game leaving the team under Tim Paine that needs a win to level the series. The Aussies would be glad to keep South Africa down to 313/6 on day one after the hosts raced to 247/2 with the efforts from Aiden Markram (152) and AB de Villiers (69).

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the first day’s play of the Johannesburg Test:

0 – Number of South African players with 400 runs in Test series against Australia since their readmission before this series. Aiden Markram scored 443 runs while AB de Villiers aggregated 421 runs in this series so far.

Hashim Amla’s 377 runs in the 2012 series in Australia are the previous most for a South African in a Test series against the Aussies since 1970.

4 – Aiden Markram scored four centuries in Test cricket so far with all of them being 125+ scores. He became the 2nd South African after Graeme Smith to convert first four Test centuries into 125+ scores.

4 – Chadd Sayers became the 4th player to claim AB de Villiers as his maiden Test wicket. John Hastings, Mohammad Irfan and Jasprit Bumrah are the other three to make ABD as their first wicket in Test cricket.

5 – Tim Paine became the 5th wicketkeeper to captain Australia in Test cricket. Adam Gilchrist is the only other keeper to lead Australia in the last 49 years.

7 – Faf du Plessis bagged his 7th duck in Test cricket with all of them coming since December 2014. He has the most number of ducks in this period for South Africa. Morne Morkel bagged six Test ducks in this span.

152 – Aiden Markram’s 152 is the joint highest Test score for a South African opener against Australia at home. Charlie Frank scored 152 in the 1914 Johannesburg Test against the visiting Aussies.

2062 – AB de Villiers became the first South African player to score 2000 Test runs against Australia. He is also the 2nd player after Ricky Ponting (2132) to score 2000 runs in SA-AUS Test matches.

20008 – AB de Villiers became the 11th player to aggregate 20000 runs in International cricket. He is the 2nd South African to score 20000 International runs after Jacques Kallis (25534).