England vs South Africa, 1st Test Stats Preview: Players records and approaching milestones

The ‘Bazball’ returns as England gears up to contest a three-match Test series against South Africa which is slated to begin on August 17, 2022, at the home of cricket, Lord’s in London. The second and the final matches of the series will be played on August 25 and September 8 at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester and Kennington Oval in London respectively. Notably, the ODIs were drawn 1-1 (3) and the Proteas defeated the English side in the T20 internationals by a margin of 1-2 (3). The Rainbow nation met Ireland in a two-match T20I series in the UK after the white-ball series against England, in which they beat the Irish 2-0.

Ahead of the eve of the opening fixture, the home side has announced a full-strength Playing XI, which delivered huge success against New Zealand and India in the summer under the new pairing of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. The English team clean swept the Kiwis 3-0, largely due to the beast performances from Jonny Bairstow and ever-reliable and consistent batter Joe Root. The former struck 394 while Root amassed 396 runs in that memorable series.

India then suffered the wrath of Bazball when they lost the rescheduled Test match at Edgbaston in Birmingham by seven wickets. The Proteas have a bad memory of their last series result in England as they lost the four-match series 3-1 back in the year 2017. This time around, Dean Elgar will hope for his side to perform better and challenge this dangerous-looking English team, who are on a roll and are playing their aggressive brand of cricket. On the other hand, Stokes and his men will look to win yet another series against new opposition and continue their dominance in the format.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers ahead of the 1^st Test between England and South Africa:

Head-to-Head: England and South Africa have met each other in 153 Test matches so far with England winning on 64 occasions and South Africa on 34. 55 games between the two sides ended up in a draw. In England, both have clashed in 68 encounters with the hosts winning 30 times and the Proteas 14. 24 matches ended up in a draw.

32 – Dean Elgar (4968) needs 32 runs to reach 5000 runs across formats.

27 – Aiden Markram (1973) needs 28 runs to complete the landmark of 2000 runs in Tests.

6 – James Anderson (944) is six scalps away from reaching 950 wickets in international cricket.

2 – Aiden Markram (448) requires just two fours to reach 450 fours across formats.

85 – Jonny Bairstow (5415) is 85 runs short of completing 5500 runs in Tests.

3 – Lungi Ngidi (47) is three scalps away from reaching 50 wickets in Tests.

5 – Stuart Broad (795) needs five wickets to get to the milestone of 800 wickets across formats.

1 – Anrich Nortje (49) is one game away from appearing in 50 matches in international cricket.

7 – Jack Leach (93) requires seven wickets to get to 100 wickets in Test cricket.

11 – Jonny Bairstow (639) needs 11 fours to reach 650 fours in Test matches.

3 – Anrich Nortje (47) needs three scalps to get to 50 wickets in Test cricket.

42 – Joe Root (10458) needs 42 runs to get to 10500 runs in Test matches.

1 – Alex Lees (49) is one four away from completing 50 fours in the longest format of the game.

2 – Anrich Nortje (98) requires two wickets to get to 100 wickets in international cricket.

7 – Kagiso Rabada (243) needs seven wickets to get to 250 wickets in Test cricket.

10 – Rassie van der Dussen (90) requires ten fours to get to 100 fours in Test matches.

10 – Kyle Verreynne (40) is ten fours short of completing 50 fours in Tests.