South Africa vs Australia, 2018: 4th Test, Day 5 – Statistical Highlights

South Africa needed exactly 100 balls on the final day to clean up Australia’s last seven wickets and seal a 3-1 series win with a record 492-run win. Vernon Philander’s consistency was tough to handle for Australia as he took six wickets for three runs in his first six overs of the day. Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood added 19 runs for the final wicket before Lyon was run out denying Morne Morkel a chance of taking a wicket with his career’s final ball.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the final day of the Test series:

1 – This series win is South Africa’s first at home against Australia since their readmission to cricket in 1991. Their last home Test series win against Australia was in 1970 which they sealed by 4-0 margin. Faf du Plessis became the first South African captain to defeat Australia in a home and away Test series. He won the 3-match Test series in 2016 by a 2-1 margin in Australia.

3 – This series is only the 3rd Test series of four and more games for Australia where no individual managed to score a century. No Australian scored a century in the 5-match Ashes series in 1956 and also in the 4-match Test series in South Africa in 1970.

6/21 – Vernon Philander’s 6/21 is the 2nd cheapest 6-wicket haul for a South African in Test cricket in the last 64 years. Dale Steyn took 6/8 in the 2013 Johannesburg Test against Pakistan. The figures of 6/21 are also the best for Philander in Test cricket.

100 – Number of wickets fell in this Test series via catches. This is only the 2nd 4-match Test series that witnessed 100 wickets via catches. The 4-match series between England and South Africa in 2017 had 101 caught dismissals.

170 – Match aggregate of Australia’s top six batsmen in this game. This is the joint 2nd lowest Test match aggregate by Australia’s top six in the last 61 years. Batsmen batting in top six for Australia aggregated 112 runs in the 1988 Karachi Test against Pakistan while their top six scored a total of 170 runs in 1984 Perth Test against Windies.

204 – Vernon Philander became the 7th South African to bag 200 wickets in the Test cricket. His bowling average of 21.46 is the best among the seven Saffers with 200 Test wickets.

492 – The 492-run margin of win is South Africa’s biggest in the Test format. The Saffers won the 2007 Johannesburg against New Zealand by 358 runs. Overall, this is the 4th biggest win for any team and the 2nd biggest defeat for Australia in terms of runs.

England defeated Australia by 675 runs in the 1928 Brisbane Test; the biggest win in terms of runs for any team. This 492-run margin is also the highest in Test cricket since Australia’s 562-run win against England in the 1934 Oval Test.

1997 – Only the 2nd time in the 39 years that Australia been bowled out under 120 twice in a Test series. They made 107 in the 2nd innings of the Cape Town Test and 119 in this match. England bowled out Aussies twice under 120 in the 1997 home Ashes series.