Was the India-South Africa Test in Cape Town really the shortest of all time?

Was the Cape Town Test really the shortest of all? asked Brian Morris from South Africa, and several others
South Africa's recent match against India in Cape Town lasted just 642 legal balls, which is indeed the shortest on record among Tests with a positive result. The previous-shortest, at 656, was a strange encounter in Melbourne in 1931-32, most of which took place on a badly rain-affected pitch - what used to be known in Australia as "a sticky dog".

South Africa were shot out for 36 and 45, and in between Australia managed 153, which was more than enough to win by an innings. The main destroyer was the slow left-armer Bert Ironmonger, who was a few weeks short of his 50th birthday. He was almost unplayable on the helpful surface, and took 5 for 6 in the first innings, then 6 for 18 in the second. Apart from the pitch, Ironmonger was also assisted by some excellent fielding.

Writing in the Sydney Mail, the former New South Wales player Eric Barbour pointed out that Ironmonger's astonishing figures "emphasise what golden opportunities have been lost by Australian selectors in the past in allowing this big-hearted and consistent bowler to reach a ripe middle age without having a trip to England." Although Ironmonger - by then 50 - did play in the Ashes at home the following summer in the Bodyline series, he never did go to England.

For the list of the shortest Tests by balls, click here. Note that this includes several draws in which rain prevented much play; to pick out the completed matches look down the fifth column until you see a winner's name.

India went from 153 for 4 to 153 all out at Cape Town. Has there been a worse collapse in a Test? asked Sudarsan Anush from India, among others
The short answer is no: India's slide at Newlands was the first time a team had ever lost six wickets for no runs in a Test. There had previously been four collapses of five for nought. In one of those, against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 1964-65, New Zealand lost six for one (the previous record) and seven for two in lurching from 57 for 2 to 59 for 9.

I'm indebted to the industrious Andrew Samson for the news that India's collapse wasn't quite the record for first-class cricket. It was the 20th occasion when six wickets had fallen for no runs, but there have been two instances of seven. At Lord's in 1872, MCC were actually 0 for 7 against Surrey - James Southerton started the rot by dismissing WG Grace for a duck - before recovering to 16 all out, while in Johannesburg in 1997-98, Gauteng nosedived from 12 for 0 to 12 for 7 against Northerns. They eventually scrambled to 74, thanks mainly to 21 extras.

Aiden Markram came close to the record for the biggest percentage of a completed Test innings at Newlands. But where does he stand for percentage of runs in a whole match? asked Mike Ronaldson from England
When he was out for 106, Aiden Markram had made 65.43% of South Africa's runs, which would have placed him third on the list of the highest percentages of a completed Test innings, which is still headed by the Australian Charles Bannerman's 67.34% (165 retired hurt out of a total of 245) in the very first Test of all, against England in Melbourne in 1876-77.

However, there were 14 more runs after Markram's dismissal, reducing his percentage to 60.22. That's still the best for South Africa in a completed Test innings - previously Herbie Taylor's 59.89% (109 out of 182) against England in Durban in 1913-14 - but only 16th overall.

Looking at matches in which teams were bowled out twice, Markram's 106 represented 45.88% of South Africa's overall runs at Newlands. He's still behind Bannerman on that score (165 was 47.27% of Australia's runs in Melbourne in 1876-77), but another South African has them both beaten: when Jimmy Sinclair hit his country's first Test century, 106 against England at Cape Town in 1898-99, it was exactly 50% of their runs in the match, as they were bowled out for 177 and 35.

If we include both sides in completed Tests, there are three batters who have made a single score that constituted more than a third of the runs in that particular Test. It's no great surprise to find Don Bradman top of the pile: his 185 against India in Brisbane in 1947-48 was 34.39% of the match total of 538 runs. When John Edrich amassed 310 not out against New Zealand at Headingley in 1965, it was 34.25% of the match runs (905), while Inzamam-ul-Haq's 329 for Pakistan against New Zealand in Lahore in 2002 was 34.20% of the match total of 962 runs.

South Africa were bowled out before lunch on the first day in Cape Town. How often has this happened in Tests? asked Jannie Oosthuizen from South Africa
South Africa's rapid decline to 55 all out - the lowest total against India in any Test, undercutting New Zealand's 62 in Mumbai in 2021-22 - was the eighth time a team has been bowled out before lunch on the first day of a Test match.

The first occasion was at Lord's in 1896 , when Australia were skittled for 53 by England. It didn't happen again until 2007-08, when South Africa bowled India out for 76 in Ahmedabad. Remarkably, South Africa's demise at Newlands was the sixth since then, after New Zealand (45) against South Africa in Cape Town in 2012-13, Australia (60) against England at Trent Bridge in 2015 (when Stuart Broad took 8 for 15), England (58) against New Zealand in Auckland in 2017-18, Bangladesh (43) against West Indies in North Sound in 2018, and England (85) against Ireland at Lord's in 2019.

The next-highest score to Aiden Markram's century was 12. Was this a record? And has anyone else scored a century in a Test in which no one else managed a fifty, and still lost? asked Milind Karthikeyan from India
You're right that the next-highest score after Aiden Markram's 106 in Cape Town was 12, by his opening partner Dean Elgar. That was indeed a record: previously the second-highest score in a Test innings in which someone scored a century was 13, also for South Africa, by Gary Kirsten and Mark Boucher against Sri Lanka in Centurion in 1997-98, in an innings in which Daryll Cullinan made 103. And when the underrated Australian Graham Yallop made 121 against England in Sydney in 1978-79, the next-highest score was Kim Hughes' 16.

Markram was the third man to score a century in a losing cause in a match in which no one else reached 50 (the next-best at Newlands was Virat Kohli's 46). The first to do it was New Zealand's John Reid, who actually hit 74 and 100 against England in Christchurch in 1962-63 and still lost, even though the next-highest in the match was Ken Barrington's 47. Then in Port-of-Spain in 1999-2000, Andy Flower made 113 not out for Zimbabwe, but ended up losing to West Indies; the next-highest score in the match was Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 49.