South Africa vs England, 2019-20: 2nd Test, Day 3 – Anderson goes past Botham, Stokes’ record, Root's milestone and more stats

England’s top-order ensured the team stood in a strong position against South Africa in the Cape Town Test as they lead by 264 runs with 6 wickets in hand by end of day 3. After taking a narrow first-innings lead of 46, opener Dominic Sibley scored his maiden Test fifty. He added 73 for the 2nd wickets and 116 runs for the 3rd with Joe Denly and Joe Root respectively. Sibley finished unbeaten on 85 while Joe Root scored 61 before getting out in the penultimate over of the match.

All the statistical highlights from the 3rd day’s play in Cape Town that went England’s way:

Anderson goes past Botham:

28 – Number of 5-wicket hauls for James Anderson in Test cricket; the most 5-fers by any player in this format for England. Anderson went past Ian Botham’s 27 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

Stokes creates England record:

5 – Number of catches Ben Stokes claimed in South Africa’s first innings; the most by any fielder in a Test innings for England. There are as many as 23 instances of a fielder taking 4 catches in a Test innings before this Test but none of them went on to take the 5th catch. Stokes was struck on four catches at the end of 4th day but got the record with the 10th wicket of SA’s innings.

A 5-fer at 37 for Anderson:

37y 157d – James Anderson is the oldest England bowler to take a 5-wicket haul in Test cricket in nearly 20 years. Off-spinner Eddie Hemmings was 41 years and 135 days old when he claimed a 6-wicket haul in the 1990 Birmingham Test against New Zealand.

1951 – The last instance of an England pacer taking a 5-wicket haul after turning 37 in Test cricket was Freddie Brown in 1951. His age was past 40 when he took 5/49 in the 1951 MCG Test against Australia.

100 after 35 for Jimmy:

102 – James Anderson has claimed 102 wickets in 26 Tests he played after turning 35. He is only the 10th player with 100 Test wickets after the age of 35.

Root @ 1000:

14 – Joe Root became the 14th player to score 1000 runs in Test cricket for England against South Africa. He has scored 1020 runs across 20 innings he played against them in 10 Test matches with two centuries and seven fifties. Root hit at least one fifty-plus score in nine of the 10 Tests he played against South Africa. The first Test in Centurion was the only time he failed to do so.