Root's bumper year, Faf's crawl

1385 Runs scored by Joe Root in Tests in 2015 - the second highest by a batsman. Steven Smith with 1481 runs in 2015 ends the year as the highest run-scorer. Root is third in the list of batsmen with most international runs this year.

1 Number of England batsmen who have made more Test runs in a calendar year than Root's 1385 runs in 2015. Micheal Vaughan made 1481 runs in 2002, which remains the highest. His 2228 runs in international cricket in 2015 are the highest by any England batsman in a calendar year beating Kevin Pietersen's 2120 runs in 2006. Root's 1352 Test runs in 2015 batting at No. 4 or lower are also the highest by an England batsman in a year batting outside the top 3. He went past Kevin Pietersen's tally of 1343 runs in 2006.

1965 The last time before Dane Piedt a South Africa offspinner took a five-wicket haul in Tests at home. Harry Bromfield had taken 5 for 88 against the same opposition in Cape Town. This is just the third five-wicket haul by a South Africa spinner at home since their readmission to Test cricket. Paul Harris took the other two in 2009, against Australia and England. Piedt's haul is also the first by a South Africa spinner at this venue since Hugh Tayfield took 8 for 69, also against England, in 1957-58. Click here for a list of five-wicket hauls by South Africa spinner at home.

4 Number of times Piedt has taken four or more wickets in an innings in just three Tests. That equals the most such hauls by a South Africa bowler in his first three Tests. Alf Hall took two five-fors and two four-wicket hauls in his first three Tests. Vernon Philander had four five-fors in his first three Tests. Piedt's 18 wickets in his first three Tests also equal the most any South Africa spinner has taken in his first three Tests. Claude Henderson also took 18 wickets in this first three Tests.

120 Runs scored by Jonny Bairstow in this Test - the second highest by an England wicketkeeper in Tests in South Africa. The only instance when an England keeper made more runs in a Test in this country came way back in 1892 when Henry Wood scored an unbeaten 134 in Cape Town Test. Bairstow's strike-rate of 103.94 in his innings of 79 is the second highest for an England batsman with a fifty-plus score in South Africa.

18.76 Faf du Plessis' strike rate in the fourth innings of Tests in 2015 - the lowest for any batsman who has faced at least 300 deliveries in the fourth innings of a Test in a year (wherever balls-faced information is available). As many as 348 of the 390 balls he faced in the fourth innings in 2015 were dots, with the last two instances when he batted in the fourth innings producing all of 12 scoring shots off 152 deliveries. Including his 9 in this innings, du Plessis's last ten Test innings have produced six scores in single-digits and he has made 119 runs at 11.90.

153 Runs conceded by Piedt in England's second innings; that is the third highest conceded by any South Africa bowler with a five-wicket in an innings at home. The last instance when a South Africa bowler took a more expensive five-wicket haul at home came in 1948-49 when Athol Rowan conceded 167 runs, also against England, in Port Elizabeth.

1947 The last time before this Test England set South Africa a target of 400-plus in Tests. That instance had come at home, at The Oval, and the Test had ended in a draw. The current Test is also the tenth time that South Africa have been set a target of 400-plus in Tests at home. They have ended up losing on eight of the previous nine occasions. The only time they drew was against India in Johannesburg in 2013-14 when they ended up just eight runs short.

4 Number of times teams have batted for more than 140 overs in the fourth innings of a Test in the last ten years. South Africa did that in their previous Test, against India in Delhi, when they batted for 143.1 overs before being bowled out. In the previous such instance for them, however, they had managed a famous draw at the Adelaide Oval in 2012-13 when they batted out 148 overs. The other two instances, incidentally, are by England.

0 Fifty-plus stands by South Africa's openers in the previous eight Test innings before this, from which they had managed a total of just 94 runs at an average of 11.75. Overall, since their return to Test cricket, South Africa's first wicket has averaged their third-lowest this year, and their second-worst had come only last year.