Which top team has played the least recently?

Over the next 11 months, South Africa will be playing 11 Tests and 16 ODIs. That's a good thing, for their schedule over the last three years has been surprisingly bare: since the beginning of 2009, they have played all of 18 Tests and 46 ODIs. Even after adding 24 Twenty20 internationals, the total workload for a South African who played in all three formats over the last 34 months has only been 148 days of international cricket (assuming five days per Test and half a day for Twenty20 internationals).

Compare that with England, who played twice as many Tests during that period, or Australia, who played 40 ODIs more than South Africa, and the lop-sidedness of the international schedule become clear. It's obvious that some of the weaker teams won't get as many opportunities, but South Africa have been among the top sides in both formats - they're currently ranked second in Tests and third in ODIs. Yet, they've played the fewest days of cricket among the eight top sides: West Indies have played more Tests and ODIs, while New Zealand have had 13 more ODIs. Compared to the other top sides, South Africa's presence on the cricket field has been particularly sparse: they've played 109 days fewer than England, 97 fewer than Australia, and 84 fewer than India.

The period from 2009 has been lean for South Africa, but that's a huge contrast compared to their workload from 2006 to 2008. In that three-year period, they played 35 Tests, which was next only to England and India, who played 37 each. They didn't play that many ODIs - 71, which was 25 fewer than India, and seventh among all sides. Overall they had 252 days of cricket (by the same calculation as above), compared to India's 286. That was surely more in keeping with their status as one of the top sides in the world, compared to their meagre tally since the beginning of 2009.

This lack of cricket seems to have affected South Africa's Test results. Between 2006 and 2008, they had a 20-11 win-loss record, bettered only by Australia and Sri Lanka; since the beginning of 2009, that record has dropped to 6-6, with four teams - England, India, Australia and Sri Lanka - having better records. During this period, South Africa's home record has been particularly ordinary, with only three wins and four defeats. Several teams have done better than that. During this period, South Africa lost a series to Australia, and drew against England and India. Their last home series wins were against Bangladesh in November 2008, and against West Indies and New Zealand in the 2007-08 season, both less than top-class opposition.

On the other hand, overseas they've been the best for a while now: since October they've won five out of seven series and drawn two, both in India. Their overseas win-loss ratio of 2.75 (11 wins, four defeats) is twice as good as the next-best side's: England (ratio 1.33) and Australia (1.12) are the only other teams who've won more Tests than they've lost overseas during this period.

The batting numbers for each team shows how dominant South Africa have been in away games. Their away average of 43.60 is higher than that of any other side, though England and Sri Lanka come close. At home, though, they average only 35 runs per wicket, which is much worse than several teams.

Among individual South African batsmen, only Jacques Kallis has done as well both home and away. AB de Villiers averages more than 50 at home, but even that pales before his overseas average of 85.88, while Hashim Amla's home average is half that of his overseas one.

The bowling averages for South Africa, as indeed for most teams, are better at home than away: at home South Africa concede 31.98 runs per wicket, while overseas it goes up to 37.28. Only England have a better home bowling average. However, South Africa's overall batting and bowling numbers at home also look better than you'd expect, due to the margins of their results: all three home Test wins have been by an innings, while the defeats have been relatively narrower. (Click here for the results from South Africa's 10 home Tests since 2009.)

Among the individual bowlers too, the top ones have all done better at home than away. Dale Steyn has 52 wickets from nine home Tests at 23.03, compared to 36 in eight overseas, at almost 26. Similarly Morne Morkel averages less than 27 at home and more than 31 away.

All these players, though, have played fewer international games over the last three years than they would have liked. Over the next year, they won't have too many complaints on that count.