South Africa v Bangladesh 2017: 2nd Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

Bangladesh had yet another toiling day against South Africa after electing to bowl first on winning the toss for the 2nd consecutive game in this series. Both the openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram scored fluent tons with healthy strike rates as South Africa ended the day at 428/3 with Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis unbeaten having scored fifties.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the day’s play.

243 – The 243-run opening stand between Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar is the highest opening partnership in Test cricket in South Africa since 2005. This is also the first double century opening stand for South Africa since the 204-run stand between Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in 2008 against England at Lord’s.

428 – South Africa’s total of 428 runs is the joint 2nd most by them on the opening day of a Test match. They scored 445 against Pakistan in 2003 at Cape Town and 428 against Australia in 1902 at Johannesburg.

428 – The 428 runs conceded by Bangladesh are the 3rd most by any team on the opening day after electing to bat first. Zimbabwe conceded 452 against New Zealand in 2005 at Harare while Sri Lanka conceded 429 against NZ at Christchurch in 2014.

469 – Partnership runs between Markram and Elgar in this series so far. These are most by any opening pair in a 2-match Test series since 479 by Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in 2008 also against Bangladesh.

1097 – Dean Elgar became the 1st player to score 1000 runs in Test cricket in 2017. He has so far scored 1097 runs in 20 innings including five centuries. No other player has more than three Test tons in 2017.

2008 – Both the openers scoring hundreds is the first such instance for South Africa since the 2008 Lord’s Test match against England. The last such instance in a Test match in South Africa was by Australia against South Africa in Durban, 2009.

2012 – The last South African before Dean Elgar to aggregate 1000 Test runs in a calendar year was Hashim Amla (1064) in 2012. Elgar is only the 8th South African to score 1000 Tests runs in a year.