SA vs SL, 2020-21: 2nd Test – Karunaratne's record ton, Mendis' hat-trick in ducks, No overs for SA spinner and more stats

South Africa completed a series win over Sri Lanka with a 10-wicket victory in the Johannesburg Test on Tuesday. Anrich Nortje’s 6-wicket haul kept the Lankans down to 157 on the first day. Dean Elgar scored 127 from only 163 balls as the home team raced to 218/1 before collapsing to 302/10. Vishwa Fernando’s 5-wicket haul was crucial in keeping down the first-innings lead of the Proteas. Sri Lanka, in the second essay, wrapped up for 211 despite a fight hundred from their captain Dimuth Karunaratne. They did set a target of 67 runs for the home team who chased it down in only 13.2 overs.

Here are all the statistical highlights from South Africa’s series victory in the 2-match Test series against the Lankans:

A big victory for the South Africans:

2013 – The 10-wicket win in Johannesburg was the 9th instance of South African team winning a Test match by a margin as big as 10 wickets. The last instance of Proteas winning a Test by 10 wickets was in the 2013 Durban Test against India.

This is also the 2nd such win for South Africa against Sri Lanka as they defeated the Lankans by 10 wickets while chasing a target of two runs in the 2012 Cape Town Test.

A series win for the Proteas:

3 – South Africa registered their first series win in Test cricket since winning against Pakistan by 3-0 margin at home in 2018-19. The Proteas lost all the three series in Test cricket between the two series wins and managed to win only one of the 8 Tests across those three series.

Fastest paced Test series:

2 – This series between Sri Lanka and South Africa is only the 2nd in Test history (Min: 2 games) where the batting strike rate was in excess of 60 while the bowling strike rate reading under 50. [Bat SR 63.28 & Bowl SR 49.54]

The other such Test series was in the 1902/03 season where Australia toured South Africa for a 3-match series. The batting strike rate in that series was 65.74 while the bowling strike rate been only 39.9.

No overs for the specialist spinners:

1 – Keshav Maharaj became the first specialist spinner to be part of South Africa’s winning XI in Test cricket since their readmission (1992) even without bowling a ball in the game. Maharaj is also only the 3rd specialist spinner to not bowl even a ball for South Africa in a Test match since 1992.

Paul Adams didn’t bowl in the famous 2000 Centurion Test where both SA and ENG teams called off one of their innings to set up for a result. Dane Piedt also did not get a chance to bowl in the 2016 Durban Test which got washed out after 12 overs of New Zealand’s innings.

A record knock from the Lankan skipper:

1 – Dimuth Karunaratne became the first Sri Lankan opener to score a century in Test cricket on South African soil. The previous highest Test score while opening the innings for Sri Lanka on South African soil is 98 by Kumar Sangakkara in the 2001 Centurion Test.

80.43 – Karunaratne had a strike rate of 80.43 during his century which is the 9th instance of a Sri Lankan opener scoring a Test hundred while striking at 80+ but the first of them since the start of 2010. Sanath Jayasuriya (6) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (2) accounted for the rest of eight such hundreds.

5 – Karunaratne is now only the 5th visiting captain to score a Test century on South African soil while opening the innings. The last of the previous four such skippers was Mike Atherton who made an unbeaten 185 during England’s 2nd innings of the 1995 Johannesburg Test.

Milestones for Elgar and Dickwella:

4141 – Dean Elgar completed 4000 runs in Test cricket when he went past his individual score 90 in South Africa’s first innings. He is now the 10th player to amass over 4000 runs in Test cricket for the Proteas.

2023 – Niroshan Dickwella completed 2000 runs in Test cricket during Sri Lankan’s 2nd innings of this game. Dickwella’s highest Test score at the moment reads 83 which puts him in an elite list of players with 2000+ Test runs without a hundred.

Shane Warne (3154 runs with a best of 99) and Chetan Chauhan (2084 runs with a best of 97) are other players with 2000+ Test runs without an individual hundred.

Mendis bags a pair:

5 – Kusal Mendis became only the 5th Sri Lankan to bag a pair while batting in top four in a Test match. The last of the previous four players with this unwanted achievement was Upul Tharanga in the 2006 Birmingham Test against England.

3 – Kusal Mendis has registered a duck in each of his last three innings in this series; all while batting in top four. No player from Sri Lanka has been dismissed for a duck as many as three times in a Test series while batting in top four before Kusal.

Maiden 5-fer for Fernando:

2011 – The last left-arm pacer before Vishwa Fernando to bag a 5-wicket haul in Test cricket for Sri Lanka was Chanaka Welegedara who took 5/52 in the 2011 Durban Test against South Africa. Fernando and Welegedara are the only left-arm pacers to bag a 5-fer in Test cricket for the Lankans on South African soil.