Stats Analysis

SA's Durban woes, Cook joins Brearley

Stats highlights from Durban as South Africa succumbed to a third consecutive defeat

Shiva Jayaraman
30-Dec-2015
ESPNcricinfo Ltd

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

5 Number of times South Africa have lost in their last six Tests at Kingsmead. Their only win at this venue since 2009 came against India in 2013-14. South Africa's win-loss record at Kingsmead against England equals their second worst at any venue where they have played more than two Tests.
2010 Last time England won the first Test of an away series, which was against Bangladesh in Chittagong. Before that, their previous instance of starting a Test tour with a win came in Port Elizabeth in 2004. England won that five-match series 2-1.
18 Number of Tests won by Alastair Cook as England captain, out of 42. He now has as many wins as Mike Brearley had from 31 Tests as captain. Click here for a list of England captains with most wins in Tests.
0.25 South Africa's win-loss ratio in Tests this year - equals their worst in any year since their return to Test in 1992. This is the eighth time South Africa have lost four or more Tests in a year and six of them have come since their readmission.
241 Runs South Africa lost the Test by - their third worst defeat at home in terms of runs since 1992. They lost the Centurion Test against Australia last year by 281 runs, which is their worst. Including innings defeats, this is South Africa's sixth-worst loss at home since readmission. This is also their second-worst defeat against England during this period.
2009 The last time South Africa were bowled out by England in Tests for a lower score. That, too, happened at Kingsmead, when the hosts were dismissed for 133 in their second innings. Since 1992, five of South Africa's lowest Test totals have come in Durban. This was also the lowest total for which South Africa have been bowled out in the fourth innings at home since 1992.
5 Number of times since 2000 England won an away Test by a margin bigger than their 241-run win in this Test. Their last such win came at the SCG in 2010-11 when they won by an innings and 83 runs. One of those five wins also came against South Africa in Durban, in 2009, when they defeated the hosts by an innings and 98 runs.
2009 Last time South Africa lost three consecutive Tests before this. On that occasion, Australia were the opposition in all three Tests and the defeats came in Sydney, Johannesburg and Durban.
6 Number of Tests lost by South Africa since 2014; four of these losses have been by a margin of 200 or more runs. The defeat in this Test was their second such loss in succession, having been beaten in Delhi by a margin of 337 runs.
0 Number of century stands for South Africa in Tests in 2015 - only the sixth time a team has failed to put up a single century stand from five or more Tests (with at least one innings played) in a year. The last such instance was by Bangladesh in 2002 when they had no century stands from eight Tests. For South Africa, this is the first year since 1963 when they haven't had a hundred stand in Tests.
0 Man-of-the-Match awards won by Moeen Ali in Tests before this. He took 7 wickets from the 51 overs he bowled in the match and conceded 116 runs at an economy of 2.27. Moeen's figures in this match were the third best by an England spinner in a Test at Kingsmead.
38 Runs added by South Africa's last six wickets in their second innings - their third-worst collapse in Tests at home since their readmission to Test cricket. Their worst such collapse came in Cape Town in 2011-12 when their last six managed to add just 23 runs.

Shiva Jayaraman is a senior sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo.com. @shiva_cricinfo