Cook's stellar year, and a dip in average for Amla

1929 The previous instance when the same opening pair shared a 100-plus partnership for South Africa in both innings of a Test. Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar added 104 in the first innings and 116 in the second in Port Elizabeth. Bob Catteral and Bruce Mitchell added 119 and 171 respectively against England at Birmingham in 1929. Overall, eight other opening pairs have shared century stands in both innings of a Test.

2012 The last instance of a century stand for the opening wicket in both innings of a Test match for South Africa, against England in 2012 at Leeds. However, this was achieved by two different pairs: Graeme Smith added 120 runs each with Alviro Petersen and Jacques Rudolph respectively.

1970 The last instance of two fifty-plus partnerships by the opening pair for South Africa in a Test in Port Elizabeth. Barry Richards and Eddie Barlow added 157 and 73 against Australia in 1970.

70 Innings taken by Vernon Philander to reach 11 five-fors in Tests. He is the third-quickest bowler from South Africa to reach this mark after Hugh Tayfield (43 innings) and Dale Steyn (54 innings). Philander now has three five-fors each against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand.

3 Centuries scored by Stephen Cook in 2016, the most by a South Africa batsman in 2016. Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock have two hundreds each. Cook has three hundreds from 12 innings and also made his top score of 117 today.

84 Dean Elgar's average at St Georges Park, Port Elizabeth, the second-best across all venues he has played in after Durban, where he averages 88.5. He has scored 420 runs with two hundreds and two fifties in Port Elizabeth.

49.90 Hashim Amla's current average. This is the first time his average has dropped below 50 since November 2012.