CT 2017, Match 3: South Africa v Sri Lanka – Statistical Highlights

South Africa began their Champions Trophy 2017 campaign with a huge win over the Sri Lankans as they bundled out the Lankans for 203 while defending their total of 299/6. Sri Lanka managed to hold the South Africans to a slow start after winning the toss but Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis changed the course of the game with an eventful century stand.

However, Sri Lanka ensured to get the big hitters cheaply and restrict SA one run short of 300. The Asian side got off to a quick-fire start with captain Upul Tharanga and Niroshan Dickwella scoring at over 8 an over in the first 10-15 overs. However, once the middle order came into play, everyone fell into Tahir’s trap and failed to even reduce the winning margin.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the game.

4 – Number of players including Hashim Amla who have 25 centuries each in Test cricket and ODI cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara are the other three players with 25 tons in Tests and ODIs.

5 – Number of centuries in ODI cricket for Hashim Amla against Sri Lanka; the joint-most number of centuries against a single team for him in this format. Amla has scored 5 centuries against West Indies as well.

8 – Number of consecutive ODIs in which South Africa have defeated Sri Lanka. Their winning streak in ODIs over SL started in 2014.

4/27 – Imran Tahir’s bowling figures of 4/27 in this game are the 3rd best for any player in his debut game in the Champions Trophy. Josh Hazlewood picked 6/52 in the previous game while GC Tonge recorded figures of 4/25 in 2009 vs Pakistan.

4/27 – Imran Tahir’s 4/27 are the best bowling figures for a South African spinner in the Champions Trophy. He, in fact, is the first spinner to take 4-wicket haul in CT for South Africa. 4 pacers have taken a 4-fer for SA in the tournament’s history.

8 – Number of 4-wicket hauls Imran Tahir has taken in ODI cricket so far; the 4th most by any bowler and most by any spinner since his debut in 2011 CWC. Mitchell Starc has 11 four-fers in this period while Lasith Malinga and Chris Woakes have 10 and 9 four-fers respectively.

25 – Number of centuries Hashim Amla has scored in ODI cricket so far; he is the 6th player to score 25 centuries in ODI cricket and the first one from South Africa. AB de Villiers has scored 24 ODI centuries for South Africa.

30 – Number of consecutive ODIs which Lasith Malinga has missed for Sri Lanka. His last ODI appearance before this game was in November 2015 against West Indies.

61.53 – Hashim Amla’s batting average in ODIs on England soil, the 3rd best batting average for any player. (Min: 500 runs) Amla has scored 800 runs in 15 ODIs in England and has hit 2 centuries.

103 – Runs scored by Hashim Amla in this game; the 6th century for South Africa in the Champions Trophy. H Gibbs alone scored three of the 6 hundreds in CT for SA.

145 – Partnership stand between Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis for the 2nd wicket in this game, the 3rd biggest stand for any wicket for South Africa in the Champions Trophy. Gibbs and Kallis put on 178* against India while Gibbs and Smith put on 159 vs Kenya in 2002.

151 – Innings taken by Hashim Amla for scoring his 25th ODI century; the quickest to score 25 ODI tons. Previous fastest was Virat Kohli, who scored his 25th ODI ton in his 162nd innings.

2108 – Partnership runs between Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in ODI cricket; they are the 13th South Africa pair and 86th overall with 2000 partnership runs in ODIs. Their average of 56.97 is the 6th best for any pair with 2000 runs in ODI cricket.