England v South Africa 2008 / News

England v South Africa, 2nd npower Test, Headingley

Win the toss, win the match

S Rajesh

July 17, 2008

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From a venue which has now produced six successive draws in Tests, England and South Africa move to one which has seen nine consecutive results - if past trends are any indication, expect one of the teams to go 1-0 up in the four-Test series after the game. The last time a Test in Headingley ended in a draw was way back in 1996, when Pakistan and England didn't even finish three innings between them. Since then, though, England have won six times, including thrice in a row, but the last team to beat them was South Africa, by 191 runs in 2003. (Click here for all results at Headingley.) Overall, South Africa have lost six times in 11 games, but five of those losses were before their readmission into international cricket.

England and South Africa at Headingley
Tests Won Lost Draw
England, overall 67 30 20 17
South Africa, overall 11 2 6 3
England, since 1990 15 8 5 2
South Africa, since 1990 3 1 1 1

Unlike at Lord's, where all the England batsmen average more than 50, the numbers are mixed for them here. Kevin Pietersen has shone in his two Tests, scoring two centuries, including a double, in three innings. For the rest, though, the venue has been less generous. Andrew Flintoff, who is set to resume his Test career, has particularly bizarre figures here - his first four innings here didn't yield a single run, as he got ducks against South Africa and India. In his next three innings, though, he has notched up half-centuries, getting to within six of his hundred against New Zealand in 2004.

England batsmen at Headingley
Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Kevin Pietersen 2 377 125.67 2/ 0
Andrew Strauss 3 239 47.80 1/ 1
Michael Vaughan 5 304 43.42 1/ 2
Ian Bell 2 128 43.67 1/ 0
Alastair Cook 2 86 28.67 0/ 0
Andrew Flintoff 4 199 28.42 0/ 3
Paul Collingwood 2 85 28.33 0/ 0

Among the South African top seven, only four have played at Headingley, but none of them have numbers they'll be proud of. Jacques Kallis has played four innings here, but none have fetched him a score of more than 41. Mark Boucher has fared even worse while Graeme Smith managed just 16 runs in two innings in 2003.

South African batsmen at Headingley
Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s
Jacques Kallis 2 90 22.50 0/ 0
Neil McKenzie 1 42 21.00 0/ 0
Mark Boucher 2 65 16.25 0/ 0
Graeme Smith 2 16 8.00 0/ 0

Kallis will still have fond memories of the ground, though, for the last time he played here, he destroyed England's batting line-up with his seam and swing. Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Ed Smith and Flintoff fell to him at least once in the match as he returned figures of 9 for 92, leading a 191-run thrashing of England. His 6 for 54 in the second innings of the game remains his best figures in a Test innings. Makhaya Ntini hasn't done badly either - his nine wickets have come at less than 25.

South African bowlers at Headingley
Bowler Tests Wickets Average 5WI/ 10WM
Jacques Kallis 2 9 17.00 1/ 0
Makhaya Ntini 2 9 24.11 0/ 0

Ryan Sidebottom is easily the most successful at this ground among England's current bowlers: in his only Test here, against West Indies last year, he took four wickets in each innings as England completed a massive victory.

England bowlers at Headingley
Bowler Tests Wickets Average 5WI/ 10WM
Ryan Sidebottom 1 8 10.75 0/ 0
Monty Panesar 2 7 26.71 0/ 0
Andrew Flintoff 4 8 38.75 0/ 0
James Anderson 1 2 59.50 0/ 0

Over the last five Tests, pace bowlers have done better than spinners, but the difference isn't as much as one might expect: fast bowlers concede more than 35 runs per wicket, and only two of them, Kallis and Pakistan's Umar Gul, have taken five-fors in this period.

Pace and spin at Headingley since 2002
Wickets Average Strike rate 5WI/ 10WM
Pace 130 35.23 60.6 2/ 0
Spin 27 40.81 80.0 0/ 0

If past trends are any indication, the toss could play a vital role: the last five Tests have all been won by the team winning the toss. The coin spun England's way in their last three Tests here, while South Africa and India were the lucky teams in the two previous matches. In fact, since 1993, only two out of 13 matches have been won by the team losing the toss.

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo

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S Rajesh Stats editor Every week the Numbers Game takes a look at the story behind the stats, with an original slant on facts and figures. The column is edited by S Rajesh, ESPNcricinfo's stats editor in Bangalore. He did an MBA in marketing, and then worked for a year in advertising, before deciding to chuck it in favour of a job which would combine the pleasures of watching cricket and writing about it. The intense office cricket matches were an added bonus.
Tour Results
England v South Africa at Cardiff - Sep 3, 2008
No result
England v South Africa at Lord's - Aug 31, 2008
England won by 7 wickets (with 14 balls remaining) (D/L method)
England v South Africa at The Oval - Aug 29, 2008
England won by 126 runs
England v South Africa at Nottingham - Aug 26, 2008
England won by 10 wickets (with 215 balls remaining)
England v South Africa at Leeds - Aug 22, 2008
England won by 20 runs
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