South Africa vs Australia, 2020: 3rd T20I – South Africa's another big defeat and a low total, Australia's T20I series-winning streak and more stats

Australia completed yet another T20I series victory with another huge win against South Africa in the 3-match T20I series. During the series-decider in Cape Town, the Australian team posted a solid total of 193/5 in 20 overs. David Warner (57) and Aaron Finch (55) struck fifties and shared a 120-run opening stand in only 11.3 overs.

However, no one barring Steve Smith (30* off 15) from the middle-order could make an impact. South African chase was once again broken by Mitchell Starc by cleaning up skipper Quinton de Kock. The Proteas were bowled out for just 96 runs and lost the match by a 97-run margin.

All the statistical highlights from Australia’s record victory over South Africa in Johannesburg:

Another low total for South Africa:

96/10 – South Africa’s total of 96/10 is their 2nd lowest in the T20I format. Their lowest total is 89 during the first T20I hosted by Johannesburg. The lowest T20I total of South Africa before this series was 98 against Sri Lanka in the 2018 Colombo (RPS) T20I.

Nearly South Africa’s biggest defeat:

97 – The 97-run loss in this match is South Africa’s 2nd biggest defeat in the T20I format in terms of runs. Their biggest T20I defeat in terms of runs is 107 during the first match of this T20I series. South Africa’s worst loss in terms of runs in T20Is before this series was by 95 runs on two instances.

Contrasting venue for Australia and South Africa:

6-1 – Australia won six out of the seven T20I matches they played at the Newlands in Cape Town. Their only loss came against Zimbabwe in the 2007 WT20 which was their first T20I at this venue. Three of the six wins here in the T20I format came against South Africa.

4-7 – South Africa managed to win only four out of the 12 T20I matches they played in Cape Town. They have a win-loss ratio of 0.571 at this venue which is the 5th worst for any team in Men’s T20Is. (Min: 10 matches)

Australia’s series-winning spree:

4 – Australia now has won each of their last four T20I series – 2-0 vs India in 2019, 3-0 vs Sri Lanka in 2019, 2-0 vs Pakistan in 2019 and 2-1 vs South Africa in 2020. This is the first instance of Australia winning four successive T20I series/tournaments.

This is also the 2nd time that Australia won four consecutive bilateral T20I series. The other such instance was recorded in 2014 where they won all the four bilateral T20I series played in that year.

A series to remember for Ashton Agar:

8 – Ashton Agar’s eight wickets in this series are the most by an Australian in a bilateral T20I series in Men’s cricket. He went past Nathan Coulter-Nile’s seven wickets during the 3-match home T20I series against England.

These are also the 2nd most wickets by an Australian spinner in a T20I series/tournament in Men’s cricket. Steve Smith bagged 11 wickets during the 2010 WT20 hosted by West Indies.

8 – The 8 wickets by Ashton Agar are also the most by any bowler in a T20I series against South Africa. Agar went past Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s seven wickets during the 2018 4-match T20I series in South Africa.

Agar is now also the first Australian spinner to take four or more wickets in a Men’s T20I. This was also the first time Agar picked more than three wickets in a T20 game.

Milestones for De Kock and Smith:

50 – Number of dismissals Quinton de Kock has affected in his T20I career. He is now the first South African and the 6th wicketkeeper with 50 dismissals in Men’s T20I cricket. The catch to dismiss Matthew Wade was the 50th dismissal as keeper for De Kock.

4014 – Steve Smith completed 4000 runs in the Twenty20 format when he went past his individual score of 12. Smith needed 90 runs to complete this milestone before the series but he scored 104 runs across three matches.