Stats from Day 4: Bavuma scores maiden test ton, Morris maiden fifty
The unforeseen run-fest that had begun on Day 1 the moment Ben Stokes strode out to bat with crazy things on his mind continued three days later as well, as Hashim Amla went on his merry way bringing up the almost inevitable double-hundred and coupled with Faf du Plessis, created a string of new records.
England bowlers had another arduous day in the field, and although they saw some glimmers of hope after both the aforementioned batsmen departed in quick succession, they were quickly neutralised by Temba Bavuma and the debutant Chris Morris, with the duo sharing yet another hundred run stand – the third of the SA innings – with Bavuma making a strong case for himself with his fifty.
While the match looks all set to end up in a dead draw, it was a statistician’s delight as a plethora of records were created and broken, firstly by Stokes’ butchery, and then by Amla’s class.
Here are some of the interesting stats from Day 4 of the Test:
3- Amla’s innings was the third longest innings in South Africa in Tests in terms of balls faced. The longest one was played by Gary Kirsten who faced 642 balls for his 275 against England again in Durban.
251- The number of runs scored by Amla in 8 Tests in 2015. He scored 201 in this game alone. That’s some comeback.
477- The number of deliveries that Amla faced in his innings. This is the third occasion that the SA skipper has faced 450 or more balls in Test cricket, equalling Kirsten, who has also done it thrice.
3581- The double-centurion is now 4th on the list of all-time leading run-scorers for South Africa at home. With 3581 runs from 47 matches, he is only behind Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers. He surpassed Kirsten’s tally of 3384 in this match.
2- Number of Tests in SA where more than 6 bowlers conceded over a hundred runs in their spells. The previous instant had also come against the English at Durban in 1939.
14- It is the 14th instance for the Proteas in Tests that they have had three century stands in an innings, and the first one since the Boxing Day Test against India in 2013.
1- Chris Morris’ maiden Test 50 on debut made him the 4th batsmen for his country to do so since their readmission to Test cricket in 1992. Previous achievers were Albie Morkel, Monde Zodenki and Robin Peterson.
4- The number of Test double centuries for Amla, only behind Graeme Smith’s tally of 5 double hundreds. It’s very likely that this record would belong to the incumbent skipper by the time he finishes his career.
200- This is only the fourth time since their readmission in 1992 that SA have faced more than 200 overs in an innings.
167- The 7th wicket stand between Bavuma and Morris was the third best stand for SA for the 7th wicket.
0- Number of times before this that both teams scored 600 in their first innings in South Africa. This is the first such instance.
627- The SA total is their third highest total in Tests vs England.